It goes like this…
The opponents make India sweat for days on the field, and the team, the underdog comes to bat under pressure. The openers, though most of the times had a good start, fails to convert them into a big score once again. Now, every single eye turns to the man who is ever reliable. Enter #Dravid. He comes in while India desperately needs a saviour. He plays throughout and when he leaves, the team would have reached a decent position.
While the scorching sun is already eating the energy of the sweaty pacers, Dravid never showed mercy. Despite all the tension around him, he looks calm, taps the bat on the ground, waits and leaves the delivery. Thereby, making the bowlers sweat more. A hundred more deliveries, he does the same, he looks like he will be happy to do the same unless the bowler makes him play but going stumps to stumps.
The dedication, patience, hand-eye coordination is beyond perfection that even the best of bowlers fail before him. To do it for a year is great but what do you call a man who did it for 16 years?
The 2000s was the time when India had one of the best team combinations if not the best. India was winning in overseas, against teams like Australia, England where avoiding follow-on used to be great challenge those days. In almost every single win of India, Dravid had a huge contribution. He either used to be the top-scorer or the person who made the bowler sweat for hours. Either way, he led from the front in most of the matches.
Now, the speciality of Dravid is not only about those runs and making the bowlers sweat. Tell him that he made this victory possible, he would say someone else did well too. He would say his knock was not as impactful as the other one. That was Dravid.
The man who carried Indian cricket for like years was called unfit to play the limited-overs. He was heavily trolled for his poor strike rate. He responded to the critics by playing crucial knocks and by saving his team whenever needed. Playing the anchor role, letting his partner dominate came in natural for him as if it was his comfort zone. He involved in two of the 300+ partnerships in ODIs.
In his mid-career, India badly needed someone to take up the wicket-keeping job so that the team can add another batsman. ‘I’ll do’, he said taking up the job. He wasn’t the best of keepers India had, but if he had not taken up the job, India couldn’t have conquered places. For Dravid, someone who never had anything easy in his cricket life knew the importance of an opportunity, an opportunity to represent his country. He did whatever the team asked him to do.
Can you open the innings?
We need quick runs, so let so and so open, can you bat down the order?
We need an extra batsman, Will you keep wickets?
We need quick arms, Can you field in slips?
We need someone at the catching position, Can you field in the boundary?
We need someone to bowl quick overs, Can you throw one or two? We are running out of batsmen, can you bat throughout the day?
We need to give youngsters a chance, can you sit out for a match?
Can you take up the captaincy?
Dravid always had only one reply. He would say, “I will do”. For the team. For the country.
If you asked Dravid to walk on glass for his team, his only question would be “How many miles?”- Harsha Bhogle
The worst part was how he became the prey for Chappell politics. Still, He took up all the blame.
The shortest version, the T20 looked like a format that Dravid can never prevail but he proved everyone wrong by opening the innings, playing some good knocks in the IPL. As a coach, he discovered many young talents.
When asked to coach the senior team, he believed the youngsters needed more guidance and stood behind the world cup victory of the Under-19 team. He wanted to produce future champions for the team. India does have a few under-19 victories, but the one under Dravid means more because that was something Dravid failed to feel as a player. India came close winning the World Cup and a few more trophies, but couldn’t hold one while he was playing. After winning the trophy as the coach, he had all license to go mad and celebrate wild but when asked about the victory, he refused to take the credits and said it was a team effort and all the staff members deserved equal credits. He even asked for equal prize money for all the members.
He believed in bonding along with the people who are either older and younger than him in order to keep himself updated.
‘If you can’t bond with Dravid, you’re struggling in life’, said Brett Lee once.
For a man who stood tall for like 16 years, could’ve had a fitting farewell something he deserved but he once again avoided the spotlight. He was the wolf who lived for the pack. He was not the leader, but the warrior who would do everything for the team, he was the guardian angel, the watchful protector.
Happy Birthday, Rahul Dravid!
