A Gentleman bids adieu....
My favorite cricketer Rahul Dravid has retired from International
cricket.
The first time I saw his batting, in the 1990s, it was
probably his 4th or 5th
ODI appearance and he had come in at No 7 with only a few ball remaining of
that innings. Dravid faced maybe 3 balls but his cover drive was a stamp of
class. I was an instant fan.
Years later, that six off Allan Donald at long on was one of
the most satisfying moments of cricket. Poor Donald was provided some rough
treatment by Sachin earlier but when Dravid joined the party with a beautifully
caressed six against the pacer was what really upset the chap.
Dravid was a hero because somewhere, deep down he was one of
our own. He wasn’t a naturally gifted player like the Tendulkars and the Sehwag
and probably had the least amount of lucky survives in his career. Often in his
long and hard fought innings he would play but only a single bad shot and would
be out on that. While on the other end, lesser mortals would keep committing
blunders and surviving despite. He was a common boy next door who made it big
just by the virtue of his tremendous hard work and determination. He was the real
underdog.
Dravid always displayed that it was not for nothing that he
was called a total team player who willingly agreed to bat from no. 1 to no. 7
and even donned the gloves for the sake of the team, probably the master stroke
of Ganguly which almost won India the world cup.
But his decision to recall the innings when Sachin was only six short of a double hundred in Multan in did not go well down with the records crazy and especially Sachin
frenzied nation. In this country, at
times one wonders what is more important, a Sachin or a Sehwag scoring another
century or India winning a match. Recalling the God of Indian cricket at 196
was a sacrilege in the eyes of the media and the nation.
Maybe years later Michael Clarke, the Australian skipper's
declaration at SCG in Jan 2012 which left him ONLY five runs short of the
highest Test score ever by an Australian captain, held by Mark Taylor on 334
(also Don Bradman's highest Test score) may provide an insight into the affair of how the top international teams have put teams before the individual players.
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