With lot of clamour going among the cricket circles and fans about the performance of the senior players with the pathetic performance delivered in Australia and England . It was a sort of drubbing no one would have thought would have occurred after the stupendous success of winning the World Cup in India. There was a pertinent question among the fans regarding when the trio of Sachin , Sehwag and Dravid would call it a day and bring in fresh blood and legs to perform at the highest level of cricket -Test Cricket . With Sachin being burdened by the pressure to back off the irritating pressure of completing the 100th hundred . Sehwag has still not lost hopes of his revival and dream job to captain India which further creating friction with Dhoni which is clearly visible . It was the turn of the highly dependable "The Wall" gutsy call to retire which made it sure that his commitment was and always remained for the Team India .
In the case of numbers there is no doubt a man with 13000 runs under his belt would certainly create a huge lacunae among the Indian team who was one of the players who was always Mr.Consistent in local as well as foreign shores. He always place his values far ahead than any other measurement in the modern day cricket which would demand the charisma, chutzpah, and moolah . A middle class upbringing for the Bangalore boy got into the team with loads of runs and sweat in the domestic cricket . It was an institution in itself to play in Ranji tournaments which gave us the cricketers like Laxman, Sachin, Gambhir ,Kambli and many more.
The most formidable style of his game was his defence. Rahul used put a price on the wicket such that it would require a Jumbo effort for any player from the other side to uproot his wicket. It was the strenuous effort he made in the heat and made each express delivery hurled at him into solid defence which made the pace bowling seem redundant even at 140-150 kmph. He was such a cool and confident customer who even in the worst start for India would make the next batsman comfortable and make huge partnership that would take out India from the verge of defeat . Who would forget the superb partnership with VVS Laxman against Aussie at Eden Garden .
He was the only player who would always had technical brilliance who could negate the harsh and bouncy conditions of foreign wickets . If Sachin , Laxman were run scoring machine with stroke making brilliance ,Dravid had the elegance of standing tall in the moment of calamity . This calmness and belief to lead the team to safety and further post dramatic victory at Headingley were the pitch was spitting venom he stood by hitting on every part of the body but never ever gave his wicket.
He always showed his leadership skills the way he captained the team to success on the overseas wins at West Indies and England . The most brave and controversial decision to declare was at Multan Test when India declared with Sachin stranded at 194* , shows his gumption to put Team decision before individual decision . The ways the seniormost player in the team wear gloves and accept wicket -keeping to help the team accommodate seventh batsmen in the team .
He will always remembered for his dignified persona even when the bowler used to sledge the Mr. Cool of Indian Cricket. Who would forget the outburst of Allan Donald against him in South Africa and Michael Slater notorious verbal volley in India against a doubtful catch. It shows his focus on the game despite hurdles.
Dravid was dropped from One day in series in India on pretext of slow batting . That hurt him so much that he determined to change his game for the faster version of the man . And yes he did it with style smashing four and sixes with equal aplomb . The once Test labelled Dravid now is a formidable member in the Rajasthan Royals IPL team leading the pack of young players. His flurry of 3 huge sixers in his last ODI at England showed his mettle as cricketer who can adapt to every form of the game .
Known as "Jammy" for his role as jammer against the pace batteries all over the world here is a player who has always held his high while debuting in test against England with 95 at Lords. His last series was one blip in his career which can be forgotten regarding his huge career success and contribution to India . Even if the WALL has retired , the strength of his values and commitment will always be pillar of success for TEAM INDIA .
