Rahul Dravid: The man who redefined Indian Cricket

What it (Dravid's retirement) does mean for Team India is it will have to start looking for another Dravid, who simply doesn’t exist!

It really didn’t come as a shock, as it wasn’t altogether unexpected, but Dravid’s retirement from International cricket a few days back was nothing short of a blow-a blow not only to his zillions of fans (especially those who truly understand what Dravid stands for), but a blow also to the fortunes of the Indian team that has just had two of its most horrendous test defeats ever, one against England followed by the series down under against Australia.

Fondly nicknamed ‘The Wall’ thanks to his innumerable excruciatingly long innings Dravid, with his flawless technique and extraordinary levels of perseverance, has scripted many a memorable victory for Team India since his arrival on the scene. But then such are the vagaries of life that there are some who, whether they deserve it or not, get elevated to the status of God, while there are those who, despite all their hard work and selflessness, hardly get even what is due to them. Such has been the 16-year career story of Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest batsmen in the history of world cricket, who has scored close to 11,000 runs in 344 ODIs and 13,000 odd runs in 164 Test matches (which makes him the second highest scorer in test match cricket behind only Sachin Tendulkar). What many aren’t aware of is the fact that he’s also held the most number of catches in test matches (210 of them to be precise). He’s also probably the only Indian batsman who has had a better average overseas than on the Indian soil.

However, when you talk about an institution like Rahul Dravid, you hardly talk about numbers. You remember him as one who’s time and again brought team India out of the jaws of defeat, and scripted some of the most famous Team India victories (especially after the match fixing saga). He's the first and also the only batsman to score a century in all test playing nations. Be it his 233 in 2003 at Adelaide in the first innings followed by a gritty unbeaten 72 in the second that took India to its first victory on the Australian soil in 23 years, his 148 against England at Headlingly in 2002, his 180 (and V.V.S Laxman’s 281) in 2001 against Australia in India that converted a seemingly inevitable Indian defeat into a historic victory, or his 270 against Pakistan in 2004, Dravid has always put the team first ahead of personal glories.

Cricketers have come, they have conquered, and they’ve gone. Yet there haven’t been many who have had to continually prove their mettle and shoulder as many responsibilities as Dravid. During his early days, the selectors considered him too slow a batsman to be included in their scheme of things for the ODIs. However, he modified his style and came back strongly, and in fact became a pillar of strength in the middle order. Over the years, he batted unflinchingly at almost all the positions a batsman can possibly bat at, and also kept wickets (in as many as 70 ODIs) whenever the team felt the need to accommodate an extra batsman. You don’t have too many players in the history of world cricket as dependable and as accommodating as Rahul Dravid.

What Sachin did to Shane Warne in India, Dravid did to the Donalds and Pollocks in South Africa, McGraths and Gillespies in Australia, the Goughs and Mullallys in England, perhaps not even half as flamboyantly, but twice as effectively. He showed his peers and the generation of cricketers to come that it wasn’t impossible for an Indian batsman to stand up to the battery of pace bowlers in foreign conditions (but there’s no denying that Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy during this period was equally instrumental in ensuring Team India’s overseas victories).

And what did Dravid get in return? He was dumped from ODI cricket following Team India’s debacle in the 2007 world cup. His only fault-he was captaining team India when the team was going through a leadership crisis (following the ugly Ganguly-Chappel episode). The selectors unabashedly held Dravid accountable for the defeat even though the Indian team as a unit had failed to perform. So, while the selectors did not have the guts to remove a certain other senior cricketer who had also failed miserably during the tournament, Dravid was very conveniently ousted from one day cricket.

But then like a true gentleman as he has always been, he took it all in his stride, and continued to display his genius in test match cricket (He also joined the IPL bandwagon like all his peers and the future crop of cricketers did). He ended up as the highest test scorer in 2011, and was the only Indian among the runs during the forgettable tour to England. And then immediately the tour to Australia happened. Dravid, somehow, failed to carry his form down under, and was bowled 7 times in the 4 match series. Wonder whether Dravid took his singular dismal performance in Australia as an indicator of things to come or whether it was pre-determined there’s, however, no gainsaying that he timed his retirement to perfection. However, what it does mean for Team India is it will have to start looking for another Dravid, who simply doesn’t exist!