Of the many legends the game of cricket has seen, there is one great player who made the game special: and the name is Rahul Dravid. ‘Cricket is a gentleman’s game’ this man is the living example of this statement that throughout his career gave respect to the game and in return what he got was just exemplary.
Dravid who is still known as ‘The Wall’ of the Indian team, experienced all the ups and downs of cricket in his long career which lasted for 16 years, just like any other great in the game. Dravid who made his test debut at Lord’s played a terrific knock of 95, though the young boy then, missed the chance to get his name on the honours board, but definitely left a mark at the international arena.
If we take a closer look at the great man’s career, his exceptional class and mastery has always been overshadowed by that of Sachin Tendulkar throughout his career, but he is still mentioned in the same league of Brian Lara, Allan Border, and Sir Vivian Richards.
In this game it is believed that if you begin your career with a score in the nineties, you’re destined for Greatness. The belief came true for Dravid and the young man from Bangalore now Bengaluru, showed his class to the whole world and ended up scoring 13,288 Test runs with 36 hundreds to his name. There were many highlights in his test career but the innings of 233 against the Aussies at Adelaide was something special that was done by Dravid which gave him the tag of ‘genius’.
Rahul Dravid who is undoubtedly considered as one of the greatest test batsmen ever, had his ODI career superb too, for a player like him who was once considered unfit to play in this format of the game, ended his career on a high by scoring 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs with 12 hundreds and 83 fifties to his name.
Dravid, who is also known as the “Master class” of batting, set many records and won as many awards in his career. He started with setting a unique record of scoring four centuries in a row in the year 2002 which was later broken by Gautam Gambhir in 2009. Dravid holds the record for most catches in test cricket i.e 210. He also played 94 consecutive Tests since his debut in 1996, without missing a single match which was a world record then but it was later broken by Adam Gilchrist who appeared in 96 consecutive Test matches since his debut.
Dravid holds the record of being the first international cricketer to have scored a hundred in all ten Test playing nations. When it comes to partnerships, The Wall holds the record for more hundred run partnerships and more fifty run partnerships than any other batsman - 88 and 126 respectively which is a world record. He had also facilitated with Arjuna Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhusan in 1998, 2004 and 2013 respectively. The records which this man had set are just uncountable. This shows how great he has been on the field.
Later, the legend started facing the lows at the twilight of his glorious career. It was hard for him to score runs as he himself admitted that the last 1000 runs were really difficult for me to score. It took 15 years for the genius to get his name registered at the Lord’s honours board. And eventually the great man said goodbye to international cricket in 2012. Many Dravid lovers were in shock that now the legend is gone they thought they have no reason to watch team India’s matches anymore.
After some years of retirement, the BCCI elected Dravid as the coach of India under 19 and India A teams. It proved to be a masterstroke as Dravid led the Under 19 side to the finals of the U19 world cup and registered a series of wins with the India A squad. The role of the coach suited the genius and later he became the mentor of Delhi Daredevils squad. The experience that this man brings into play is something which every budding cricketer requires for nourishing his game with ease. The amount of knowledge he has about the game be it from inside or outside, will surely help Virat and Shastri in many ways. They just need to dive into the pool of knowledge and take the Indian team to new heights.
The performances that Dravid gave were enough for the CAC members to give him the role of batting consultant for the overseas tours till the 2019 Cricket World Cup in 2019. Seeing the poor performances of team India in overseas tours, it was fair enough to choose Dravid as the consultant over anyone. The Wall has scored runs in every corner of the world. His ability to assess the conditions will come in great use for Kohli and the other batters too. His experience will come in handy for the youngsters like KL Rahul, who initially struggles with the varied bounce and swing.
When you have a gentleman like him in the dressing room, everything would go with ease and many questions will be answered instantly. A player who is as cool as him knows how to deal with pressure situations, how not to press the panic button, how to survive on a tricky surface and more. Team India must be looking forward to avail the best from this man as it is safe to say that now team India’s fortunes are in the right hands.
Rahul Dravid has served the Indian Cricket to a great extent on the field but now it’s time for him to serve off the field and more or less it will be a task. Having a legend like him is always a blessing in disguise. Sooner or later, the people will get to know that “The Genius is back.”
Fast. Lite. Innovative. Shareable. Download our HW Cricket App, for Android and iOS!