A tribute to Rahul Dravid

Adelaide Test 2003. India versus Australia. Australia 556. India, through a mammoth partnership of 303 between Dravid and Laxman, recover from 85 for 4 to 477 for 7. Dravid is on strike on 199. The first ball of the last and 90th over of Day three is being bowled. Dravid hits the ball to deep cover. He has two choices: a) take a single, complete his double century but expose the tailender Anil Kumble to five deliveries before the end of the day's play b) refuse to take the easy single, defend the next five balls or risk taking a single off the last ball of the day thereby protecting Anil Kumble. Dravid refuses the single that would take him to 200, and cannot force the last ball of the day for a single. Stranded on 199 not out overnight and have to endure a sleepless night. Never mind; team interests come first, ahead of personal milestones. That's Dravid for you !!!

I have often wondered and pondered over the questions: why am I always in awe of Rahul Dravid ? What was it about Dravid that has stuck to me that makes me one of his biggest fans and admirers in this world ? I spent a good amount of time analyzing and figuring out how exactly Dravid went about his business. I also read many articles to put things together, and pulled out some extracts from one of his interviews. Here we go, jump on the Rahul Dravid bandwagon:

Dravid's enormous success and elite performance at the highest level of the game was the result of endless self-improvement, improvisation, adaptability to the situation, the result of unstinted and ferocious hardwork, relentless and rigorous practice. It is just not possible to reach the top without putting in the hard yards. Hard-working, focused, driven, effective, pragmatic, a never-give-up attitude ---- you name it, he has it.

Headingley Test 2002, for instance. Dravid battled on that cloudy day and in overcast conditions, handling the swing from the pace merchants Hoggard, Tudor, Caddick and Flintoff all day to play a matchwinning innings of 148. He outthought and outmanoeuvred the English bowlers. Dravid had to counter the uneven bounce, the enormous swing, and had to take on body blows like in a war. But he came out triumphant. Revealing a cricketing intelligence that was the foundation behind this effort, the reason for his success in this particular match established him as the frontrunner for India's magnificent performances in the next eight to ten years. Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004, Georgetown 2002, Kolkata 2005, Perth 2008, Lord's 2011, Oval 2011, Trent Bridge 2011, Kingston 2011 and a few more. All matchwinning innings in almost all except the ones in England in 2011. Who got the Man of the match award on each of those occasions ? No prizes for guessing !!! And I have not even mentioned Dravid's 180 and the 376-run partnership with VVS 281 in Kolkata 2001 against Australia in that match.

Speaking about inborn gifts and acquired talent, it's true that supreme talent takes you only up to a certain point. After that it's all about temperament and tenacity. The more mundane, bland and thankless aspects of the game ----- the ability to work hard, stay focused, adapt to circumstances of the match and that of your team, bring your best game to the crease time and again, shutting out all extraneous distractions --- these are characteristics that are just as much important as the ability to strike the ball sweetly in an aesthetic manner. Rahul Dravid is the living example.

What motivated Dravid to perform well even after 150 Tests, 15 years and more than 13,000 runs? Dravid said that as a schoolboy, he remembered many kids who had at least as much desire to play professional cricket as he did - they attended every camp and net session, no matter what the cost or the difficulty of getting there was. But you could tell --- from just one ball bowled or one shot played --- that they simply didn't have the talent to make it. He knew he was different. "I was given a talent to play cricket," Dravid explained. "I don't know why I was given it. But I was. I owe it to all those who wish it had been them to give off my best, every day, every single day that I play the game."

What a brilliant inversion of the usual myth told by professional sportsmen: that they had unexceptional talent and made it to the top only because they worked harder. Dravid spoke the truth. Yes, he worked hard. But the hard work was driven by the desire to give full expression to an inborn talent. It's no exaggeration to say that Dravid had the zest to stretch the limits of his talents, with an outstanding public motivation, with a concern for something larger than himself.

 On the field, what set Dravid apart was a rare combination of technical excellence, mental toughness and emotional restraint. He was reserved in celebrations, just as he was restrained in disappointment - exactly as the true gentleman should be. And yet his emotional self-control co-existed with fierce competitiveness and national pride.

To take a peek inside Rahul Dravid's mind, an interview with him on the eve of his 100th Test revealed these insightful thoughts:  "The highlight of my career ? To play with such legends of the game as Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar, to have shared so much with them in the dressing room, has been a great journey and has been the highlight of my career that I will always cherish.

I remember walking out to bat at Lord's in 1996 in my debut Test and thinking that whatever else happened later I would be a Test cricketer and that I had lived out my childhood dream.

When I look back at my career I would say I have been very lucky and blessed. I realize that I could have never done so much without the support of many people --- my parents, my wife, my friends, my coach, my teammates in Karnataka and in the Indian team, captains that I have played under. I sit back and realize how lucky I have been to survive so long. I know I have performed well but then I have met the right people along the way and feel quite blessed.

Regarding the public and media attention on your performance you have to try and enjoy it. You have to understand that this is the way it is going to be. You have to learn that in the short period of time that your career is ---- and it is only a small period of your life, you have to make the most of your abilities. You have to make optimum use of your talents and you have to ensure that you have fulfilled all you can.

You have to enjoy playing. And you have to make sure you never forget that it's just a game. You have to love the game. I always think about how I began. When I was a young kid I remember what it felt like to come back from school, throw the bags, quickly get something to eat and then get out to the street to play cricket. We played for two-three hours and how we enjoyed it. It was so much fun. Then there were the school nets and I couldn't wait to go out and play. I was so keen just to hear the bell ring so I could get out there and bat. That's something that never goes away. Obviously when you're playing professional cricket for such a long period of time the pressures are different. You taste success, you face defeats, there are some lonely days on the road ..... but if you can always go back to the joy of why you began playing the game in the first place, then the intensity will automatically come back whether you're playing your first game, the second or the hundredth. At the end of the day you have to accept that it's just a game and you must have fun playing it. Defeats and losses will be there, but you have to take them for what they are. You have to love every nuance of the game. For me you have to find something you can take out of tough times, out of losses. You can never enjoy it but you must realize it's part and parcel of the game and if you live it you must embrace everything that comes with it."

If an young, budding cricketer wants to be taught the finer techniques of batting he does not need to read any coaching manual. Just watching videos of Dravid's batting is more than enough. Dravid himself is the coaching manual !!!!!

I have had the immense pleasure of watching Dravid's batting for the last 16 to 17 years and there have been a plethora of articles and any number of superlatives showered on him but the one that has always remained in my mind is the one paid by Henry Blofeld. During the 2011 series in England in the course of he scoring 461 runs while all others around him floundered, Dravid stroked the ball through the covers during the Oval Test and completed two runs to reach his 100, and raised his bat, and Henry Blofeld exclaimed: "Dravid strokes the ball to third man, runs and comes back to the striker's end, reaches his century, lifts his bat towards his teammates in the dressing room and shows them this is how you bat for India".

Now that Dravid is retired one can be sure that from time to time he will tell the new flowers, that will inevitably bloom in our cricket, of the need to put grit over beauty, solidity over flamboyance, team over self, substance over style, challenge before rejection, humility before arrogance, for that is what he stood for.

Well played Dravid. You had the honour of leaving the game enriched and enshrined with your legacy and memories and none of us can ask for anything more than that. We can't even begrudge the fact that you did not score some runs --- like it happened when you refused to take the easy single and risked denying yourself a double century for the greater cause of the team........

He was not the Wall. He was the Castle. Rahul Dravid --- what a cricketer, what a batsman, what a gentleman !!!! The entire cricketing world salutes you. Happy birthday Dravid !!!!