Earlier this month, the International Cricket Council inducted a certain Rahul Sharad Dravid in its Hall of Fame. Rahul became only the fifth Indian to have been bestowed with this rare honour. You would think this news would have been carried prominently on the front page by all the leading Indian dailies. Somehow, the editors of these elite newspapers didn’t feel the same. The Times of India, for example, carried the news of Neymar leading Brazil to its seventh straight Quarter Finals at the FIFA Football World Cup as its sports item on the front page. Even the dedicated sports pages had a wall to wall coverage of the World Cup – the lead story being Spain’s shocking exit at the hands of Russia and a farewell to the midfield maestro – Iniesta. A piece about Roger Federer opting for a new look with Uniqlo apparel at this year’s Wimbledon, instead of the iconic RF logo and Nike gear was afforded more column inches than those dedicated to the Rahul Dravid news. The name of the Wall of Indian Cricket was mentioned as if just in passing, along with fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Australia’s Ricky Ponting.
For those cricket aficionados who have followed Dravid’s career, this ‘secondary treatment’ meted out to Indian batting’s mainstay for more than a decade, is ironically, par for the course. Rahul is the man who has forever stayed out of the limelight. His 95 run effort on Test debut at Lord’s in 1996 was triumphed by a majestic 131 scored by fellow debutant Sourav Ganguly. The historic Eden Gardens Test match of 2001 against Australia saw Dravid’s 180 runs being eclipsed by a once-in-a-lifetime 281 run knock by the Very Very Special Laxman. In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, India posted a mammoth 373/6 at Taunton in a crucial game against Sri Lanka. Here too, Ganguly was the top scorer with 183, followed by Dravid who hit an uncharacteristically aggressive 145. Cricket is a team game, but like in life, no one remembers who comes in second. This has been the repetitive theme of Rahul Dravid’s international cricket career – both in Test matches and One Day Internationals. Knowing ‘Jammy’ though, he couldn’t have cared less. He played for the team, or as the eloquent Harsha Bhogle put it, “He was the wolf who lived for the pack.” He did whatever the team demanded of him, and then some more. Donning the wicket-keeping gloves for India at the 2003 Cricket World Cup he helped bolster the team’s batting line-up. This proved to be a crucial factor in India reaching the final of the tournament. Even in his last ever ODI, he got out attempting a slog – something which doesn’t sit well with the classical batsman that he was – only because the team needed quick runs.
In his phenomenal career spanning 164 Test matches and 344 one day internationals, Rahul rightfully laid claim to the moniker, “The Wall”. He faced the most number of deliveries and spent the most number of minutes at the batting crease in Test cricket history. He amassed more than ten thousand runs, both in Test matches and One Day Internationals. The Karnataka State Cricket Association erected a wall with ten thousand bricks at his home stadium – The Chinnaswamy at Bengaluru, in recognition of this achievement. One of India’s most technically gifted batsmen, Dravid was Mr. Dependable on overseas tours in seaming conditions in England and New Zealand, on bouncy pitches in Australia and South Africa and even on the twenty-two yard mine-fields in the West Indies. He never got out on a Golden Duck in his entire Test career and scored a Test century in each of the Test playing countries. The stroke-makers in the Indian batting line-up from Sachin to Sourav and from VVS to Sehwag, everyone could play with flair and unabashed freedom safe in the knowledge that Dravid would hold the other end up – always. Unsurprisingly, he was part of many record-breaking partnerships with each one of them. Being one of the safest pair of hands in the Indian slip cordon, he formed a very successful on-field partnership with ace Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble too. The combination of “c Dravid b Kumble” has accounted for many an accomplished batsmen. Rahul also had the honour of leading the Indian cricket team in twenty-five Tests and seventy-nine ODIs which included the turbulent Greg Chappell era and the 2007 Cricket World Cup. What stood out in his career was an unflinching determination to get better with each passing day. He was not as naturally gifted as Tendulkar nor as elegant as Laxman or Ganguly. He was a technician – with textbook precision in his stroke-play and unmatched reserves of concentration and perseverance. There were no speeches at his last Test match, nor the glory of a World Cup success. He was never flamboyant enough to have a movie made on him either. But the cricket fans across the world know that when he called it a day, an era of pure, unadulterated and classic batsmanship came to an end.
Even in his retirement, Dravid being the team man that he is, has taken up the responsibility of moulding the future stars of the Indian cricket team. He is presently the coach of both the India – Under 19 and the India A squads. Being associated with the coaching side of cricket, he can better put into practice his blueprint for the development of junior cricket in India which he laid out so articulately at the M A K Pataudi lecture that he delivered in 2015. Off the cricket field, he is actively involved in shaping the careers of India’s finest sportspersons with the GoSports Foundation. He has also lent his support to the Indian government’s anti-tobacco campaign.
Dravid has won many accolades throughout his career – Wisden Cricketer of the Year, ICC Player of the Year, Captain of the ICC Test Team, the Arjuna award, the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. His induction in the ICC Hall of Fame places him in the company of the greats of the game for eternity. The best award he has won though, is the respect that he commands from all those who have interacted with him – both on and off the cricket pitch.
In the words of Brett Lee, “If you can’t get along with Dravid, you’re stuggling in life.”
I salute this gem of Indian cricket and congratulate him on formally gaining membership to the rarest of the rare club of cricketers to have ever played the gentlemen’s game – an eventuality that lakhs of Dravid fans like me were never in doubt of. He may never have had the media’s spotlight on him, but he will forever glow in the warmth of the true love and affection of his fans…
Tarkash 