WALL walks off the Gentlemen’s game

In modern era of cricket, you hardly see gentlemen on the cricketing field. But, there are very few cricketers to name, who prove it time & again to be considered as Gentlemen’s game. In Indian cricket, there was undoubtfully a single name & it is Rahul Dravid. Yes, this gentleman declared retirement from all versions of the game. He served Indian cricket for more than one & half decade & earned himself an honour as WALL (defending the fall) of Indian cricket team.

This Mr. DEPENDABLE played mostly at number 3 position. Dravid shared the era of cricket along with other greats of Indian test cricket like Sachin, Saurav & Laxman. Being a part of this famous quadraple, Dravid emerged out as a dark horse coming out of shadow of genius Sachin, aggressive Saurav & classy Laxman. Unboubtfully, he is the all-time best technical batsman of Indian cricket or probably the LAST.

I am lucky to witness his game live at Wakhede stadium, Mumbai. And, I got a lesson for life while watching him practising even during tea break. All other players were in dressing room enjoying the tea & this student of the game was out in the field with coach, after already scoring a fifty in that inning.

Also, I haven’t seen, heard or read any controversy about Dravid ever, except his inning declaration decision, when Sachin was nearing his double hundred in test match. But, it was well thought of decision in the interest of the team ahead of personal milestones. Dravid is the best role model to follow for young cricketers in making.

One more quality of Dravid to mention is his flexibility. I think; he might be the player who has played in almost all positions from opening upto 6^th or 7^th position. In the 2003 world cup, he even kept the wickets behind the stumps successfully, in the interest of the team. In early days of his career, Dravid was criticised & considered not suitable for one day cricket due to his slow scoring rate. He moulded himself & emerged out as top scorer of 2003 world cup, thereby shutting the mouth of critics for ever. Since then, he continued piling the runs & decided to stop only after crossing 10000 runs in both formats of the game. He shares this feat along with other 4 greats of international cricket – Sachin, Kallis, Lara & Ponting. Dravid is the first player to be awarded with ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy’ for being the 'Best player of the year' in 2004 by ICC.

All the best Rahul for the life ahead. I wish; you get all the well deserved joy & happiness of life in return, after entertaining the cricket fans gracefully & bringing the laurels to the nation. We will miss you at one down position in test for sure.

Many many congratulations to Sachin for scoring century of centuries.

UR’s Ni3