Rahul Dravid - The Legend who wasn't

Exhibit A: October 2004: Nagpur – India

India vs Australia, on a green pitch. Yes, the very same game in which Saurav Ganguly famously sat out. India were 70 odd with 4 down, Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Kaif slugging it out against a marauding Glenn McGrath. During the course of partnership, Dravid, who was struggling for form himself, apparently said to Kaif that he will face McGrath from this end and let Kaif face the relatively easier Warne. Reason – Him being the senior player, he felt he had the experience to handle McGrath, and if they saw through this mini session, they had a chance of building a good partnership. Dravid eventually was caught at first slip of McGrath after 6 consecutive maidens. The scorecard would show an ugly 21 of 140 balls, but there was much more to the innings than just its strike rate.

Exhibit B: July 2006 – Sabina Park –Kingston, Jamaica

India vs West Indies, on a minefield of a pitch. The pitch was 2 paced, variable bounce and everything else that made a pitch nearly unplayable. Wickets were tumbling for fun. In a pitch where everyone failed, there was one certain Rahul Dravid, who carved out a couple of epic half centuries , 81 and 68.  As they say, Cometh the hour, cometh the man. India managed to post a comprehensive victory by 49 runs, and hence post their first series win in the West Indies since 1971.

Exhibit C: August 2011 – England

After a 4-0 drubbing and a spate of injuries, it was time for the ODI series. India were hoping to redeem themselves. The ODI squad was announced, and surprise! Rahul Dravid was named in the squad. Dravid was dropped rather unceremoniously from the ODI set up in 2007, and had been recalled and dropped at will a couple of times since then. For the treatment meted out to him by the selectors, he had every right to decline to play the ODI series. But, being the gentleman he is, he duly accepted the selection and announced retirement from ODIs effective from after the series.

Rahul Dravid is remembered for quite a few memorable innings, spread across his illustrious career, but the above mentioned are few of the main reasons why he will be missed by Indian Cricket, and Cricket as a whole. Dravid was not just a cricketer, he was the model cricketer.

I personally feel it would diminish his legacy if he is remembered only for his monumental knocks, and his amazing exploits overseas for India. Great players score heaps of runs, pick up hoards of wickets. Legends do much more. Dravid is a Legend. His contribution towards Indian cricket goes way beyond the 22,000 runs he has scored or the hundreds of catches he has pouched. Right from keeping wickets to give the team that 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers balance, which continues till date, to selflessly opening the innings in England because Gambhir was injured.

Even his retirement was typical of the man. He was not someone who enjoyed much fanfare and adulation. For all he had done for Indian cricket, he deserved a retirement match, played before a full crowd, with him walking back to the pavilion one final time amidst huge applause and a standing ovation. But Dravid decided to call it a day, few weeks after the Australian tour through a press conference. He realized age was not on his side, and following the 2 disastrous overseas tour for India, it was time to blood youngsters. He could have played one more match, but as he himself said, it did not make sense to him.

There will always be the debate on where Rahul Dravid stands among the greatest batsmen of all time. I haven’t had the opportunity to watch some of the all time greats like Don Bradman, Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Len Hutton, Everton Weekes, Javed Miandad etc , but I am quite certain Dravid was good enough to be able to hang out with these legends.  Among the contemporary greats, Dravid would be right in the upper echelon, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis.

The next big question to have arisen post his retirement, Who will be the next Rahul Dravid? For which, I would like to say, there will be no next Rahul Dravid. Yes, India will find a new No.3 batsman, they almost have in Cheteshwar Pujara, who will be big for Indian Test Cricket in the coming years. But, no one can replace the man Rahul Dravid.

Today is Dravid’s 40th birthday (11th January). On this day, I would like to thank Rahul Dravid for leaving behind a legacy that has enriched the game. You will be missed Sir.