One Down

When he goes out on the field today, he would have done on this tour almost everything that he had done during his entire 15-year career. A debut, a farewell, opening the batting, coming at one-down, a Lord’s century, carrying his bat,  three 6s in a row, keeping wickets and receiving the Man-of-the-series! Sadly though, one thing Rahul Dravid missed was to be on the winning side! But the Indian story might spoil this post on Dravid’s swansong!

Whoever wrote him off in his early days as a one-day player might not have imagined that he would go on to score 10,000 runs at an average of 40! If you start arguing about strike-rate, I’d say that’s a statistical tool that has come in only recently. In those days, Dravid’s strike-rate was enough to propel the team to a defend-able total (which these days might seem too less!).

It is easier to take Dravid’s case in ODI’s than to support him. Probably because you don’t understand Dravid through those numbers (though they are of appreciable magnitude). Neither are there those pages and pages of articles that people keep writing about Tendulkar. You understand this genius by watching him, his skill, his patience and his attitude.

When he leaves Cardiff today, India wouldn’t find it difficult to replace him because the IPL has given them many options. But ODI’s will miss that trademark on-drive that pierces the midwicket with a surgeon’s precision, where the bat comes down in one motion from second slip, where those legs move fluently back and across. After the ball reaches the boundary, he just wipes the sweat of the forehead with the thumb between the helmet’s grill. It was just another of those natural shots for him. Watching all these in color is not possible anymore. Luckily he hasn’t hung up his whites yet!

P.S: Please read my first tribute to Rahul Dravid

My Picture of the Wall