THE WALL....can never FALL.....
This blog is dedicated to all the critics of Rahul Dravid:
There's this very age old saying...."Quitters don't win, Winners don't quit". And this very appropriately fits into every aspect of life and every profession in life.
And when people speak about Rahul Dravid on whether where he shall be heading to, in future, this is what they must think of,if not anything else.
Come on....people have criticised Ganguly,Yuvraj,Harbhajan,Sehwag...or even Sachin for that matter...that they must be thrown out etc etc...But when it comes to test cricket, even the thought of dropping Rahul Dravid will be a heinous crime to perform.
It was this man who taught India how to bat in test cricket on overseas territories and win test matches. And I make no mistake in saying that he surpasses even Sachin Tendulkar,if one were to rate the amount of significance his knocks have had in India's fortunes abroad.For that matter,from the year 2000, Tendulkar,Laxman and Ganguly owe a lot- right,left and center- to Dravid for all the plundering of the bowling they did. Yes they are Great cricketers in their own rights,but when it comes to guts,determination,resilience,defiance and wearing down of the opposition, Dravid comes second to none.
Brian Lara famously said-"If i were to want anyone to bat for my life, i would go for Rahul Dravid".And he said this not for any nonsense reason.And for nothing is he called "THE WALL".
Starting from Kolkata 2001 all the way to Jamaica 2006...every Indian victory overseas and in India had a trademark Rahul Dravid stamp on it..in one way or the other.Be it run making or fabulous slip catching.Be it the Eden turn around,or the Adelaide thumping or the Rawalpindi run-athon or the Headingley battle....Rahul Dravid defined Indian victories.All this when he was in his prime and Indian cricket was on its rise on the World cricket ladder. For a change, I will not explain any of dravid's innings from my memory....Because if anybody does not remember what he has done to Indian cricket, then they do not deserve to be followers of Indian cricket.
Yes...he has had his ill luck hitting him now...but for heaven's sake take a look around and you see that not even a single great cricketer has been spared of this.Jayasuriya,Inzamam,Hayden,Steven Waugh...the list is hopelessly long.Yes he led the team to India's worst ever world cup campaign ....but there were reasons for it, that need to be better forgotten.But after all he has given all his toil and sweat for the country and one bad year in comparison to the standards set by him does not make him mediocre overnight.
Just that people need to give him some time to come out of this bad time.And not brickbats....As I write this blog, Rahul Dravid remains unbeaten on 65 at Mohali on day 1 vs England...and i sincerely hope this is just the beginning of another purple patch for 3 years.He is on the threshold of achieving the feat of most catches by a fieldsman in test cricket and if not for all those spilt catches in the last year,owing to an effect of his poor form,he would have been at the door of 200 catches by now.Beyond all this, the best gift Rahul would get on his retirement would be to see India at the no.1 position in the ICC Test rankings,which is now looking possible in one year's time.
So...it would be a sincere request to all his critics....please have some patience.If people had not had patience with someone called Sachin Tendulkar when he scored 2 ducks in his first two ODI innings, we all know what the cricket world would have missed.
Finally.... with a hope that my final farewell blog on Rahul will nowhere be within another 3 years and
with lingering memories of Rahul Dravid kissing the crest on his baggy Blue at the Adelaide Oval in 2003...my final word goes.....THE WALL always stands TALL !!!
1 comments:
Rahul Dravid's class and his past contribution to Indian cricket was never questioned. But what is of concern is, how much value is he for Team India in future? If his performance in the last 2.5 years are anything to go by then there isn't much. Since the return of Sehwag early this year and Gambhir partnering him as opener, India have got themselves off to great starts but the fall of Sehwag triggered a middle-order collapse led by Dravid. All the run rate and momentum gathered was quickly nullified with Dravid coming to the crease.
He is not all to be blamed, there are many circumstances that led to this
1) Resignation from Captaincy - Although he may not admit, there must have been some serious differences with Vengsarkar. He had the responsibility to lead the team but I doubt if he had the authority granted to him to make his own decisions. Greg Chappel was also there.
2) Many poor umpiring decisions and great balls have got him out. He was just not lucky enough.
3) IPL frenzy and the pressure of leading the Bangalore "Test" Team in T20 matches.
4) Batting order shuffling to accommodate Yuvraj at Australia.
5) More flamboyant junior colleagues overshadowing him.
Make no mistake, I am a great fan of Rahul Dravid and will continue to be.But I also feel the time has come to pass on his No 3 responsibility to an youngster.
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