I never thought I would do a post on any sports person other than Sachin Tendulkar ,considering that I have followed him and his game like a crazy stalker since I learnt that cricket is not called "Bat-Ball".Anyways,here is the post on Sachin.But today,The "Bloglight" is solely on the greatest Test Batsman India has ever produced-Rahul Dravid
I must confess that I have never been, and probably will never be a fan of Dravid's strokeplay as such but if there was ever a team man you could bank upon to play cricket for your life , it would be him.He does not have Sehwag's flair , Laxman's wrists,Tendulkar's grace or Ganguly's silken timing,but he has a countless reservoir of grit.He is always prepared to graft it out,bide his time and will ultimately grind the bowler into submission.You will never feel that he is dominating the bowling or is in complete control.Sweat pouring from his helmet ,a grim look on his face-You might be misled into believing that he is struggling for runs,scoring 27 runs from 67 balls,but just try asking the bowlers about it."We do not know how we get him out" is what they will tell you.
To him,Cricket is not a sport about poetic grace or effortless elegance.It is war.And war is always about survival,about making it to the end, unperturbed by the falling bodies of your fellow soldiers , just focussed on getting that flag on that mountain , and just batting on and on..Oops..I meant fighting on.
The physical effort that he puts into his batting notwithstanding,his game is more about the mental aspect.To live each moment of your career in the shadow of two greats who were always the cynosure of the public eye, being neglected like a step son and almost being taken for granted every time,and above all,dealing with all of this with understated nonchalance and a very deft sense of humour, never taking the focus off your game.Any normal human being would wilt under this kind of treatment,despite doing almost everything for the team.Not him though.
He would keep wickets to ensure the team's balance ,lead the country astutely despite a publicly known reluctance just because of a lack of options and the fact that Sachin will not captain the side, even if he is playing alone in it.He would open the batting in Test Cricket whenever needed,despite a known discomfort and yet crack 3 centuries in four matches.Less athletic he will be deemed and take more than 200 catches for his country.He will be criticized for his "slow" batting and end up scoring almost 11000 runs in ODI's top scoring in a World Cup on the way.That's just him.He just does his job.
The 270 in Pakistan , the 233 at Adelaide ,All those centuries in England (7 in total) along with numerous other efforts are etched in my cricketing memorabilia,but my favourite Dravid innings is the 180 against Australia at Eden Gardens in "THE MATCH" as we now fondly recall it.People always talk about Laxman's 281 but you should have seen his tenacity in that innings.He was struggling for runs before that game and I have never seen him so emotional and aggressive after scoring a 100 ever.Laxman subdued them with his wristy flicks and drives but it was Dravid who really dented their morale.14th March 2001 was the turning point in both Dravid's career and Indian Cricket and yes,I was there
It is time that we honour and respect the contribution that this man has made to the annals of Indian Cricketing History.A more selfless and dignified cricketer ,you will never find.13000 Test runs,11000 ODI runs,200 + catches and 15 years of a stellar career,building an unparalleled reputation,I would only have one line to end this post
"If Sachin deserves a Bharat Ratna, Dravid deserves it twice as much"
