Well played, Rahul Dravid

The word ‘legend’ is bandied about too freely in sports these days but, if there is one sportsman who lives up to the title, it is the Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid, who brought an end to his 15-year international career on March 9. Dravid never got the endorsements of a Sachin Tendulkar, nor was he as showy as Virender Sehwag, or as in-your-face as Sourav Ganguly, yet from the time he made his Test debut with a 95 against England in 1996, he had been the rock around which the Indian batting line-up revolved.

Statistics can never tell the entire story but, his 36 Test centuries at an average of above 52, speak of his unique contribution to the Indian team. Dravid’s greatness cannot be measured by his on-field exploits alone. The class and grace with which he conducted himself only added to his reputation. In a team that has been pilloried for its arrogance, no one ever had a bad word to say about the humble Dravid. Added to his innate politeness was an unparalleled eloquence. His speech as the first non-Australian to deliver the Bradman Address in Melbourne late last year, was brutal in its honesty and disarming with its wit and elegance.

It is unlikely that a cricketer like Dravid will grace the international stage again. His classical technique, straight out of the Lord’s coaching manual, is an anachronism in this age of Twenty20s. There is a growing fear that cricketers, especially batsmen from India, have grown soft as they become instant superstars, but that was never a problem for him. He thrived on adversity and was often at his best while the rest of the team struggled in alien conditions. His performances during the tours of South Africa in 1997 and England in 2011, may not have been enough to prevent Indian defeats but they showed that Dravid never gave up even when his teammates weren’t up to the task. It is only now when we have lost his talents, that we will come to appreciate his greatness.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.