I have been trying to write a post for the past 2 years but don't know where to start with. Now that I am determined to start the bolg and hopefully continue blogging what else I could start with than writing about the
Mr. Dependable alias The Wall of Indian Cricket.
Rahul Dravid has started his international test career with a majestic 95 against England at Lord's where he has impressed every one with his technique and temperment. He then on continued this journey to score 26 centuries in test cricket at an average of close to 53. He has scored 5 double centuries incidentaly each one bigger than the previous one (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270). Under the captaincy of Sourav of the 21 matches we have won Rahul has scored 2571 runs at an astonishing average of 102.84 which has 9 centuries, three of them being double centuries.
His innings at Adelaide where he scored 233 in the first innings followed by a unbeaten half-century brought us the much awaited victory against OZ in OZ soil. His outstanding innings at Kolkata where he along with Laxman made the Aussie bowlers toil for the whole day wihout loosing a single wicket paved the way for one of the memorable victories for India. He has scored 180 runs in the match. He holds the record for most number of century partnerships(75) in test cricket till date. The ability to bat hours and hours without lapse of concentration made him one of the finest test cricketers of all time(I bet no once would challenge me). He is a very fine slip catcher and holds the world record along with Mark Waugh for the most number of catches tacken by a non wicket keeper in test cricket. Be it the Kingston or Adelaide or Headingly or Rawalpindi or Kandy he had helped India to register away from home victories which were a dream 10 years back. His match saving innings include the Trent Bride test, the Napier test, the Georgetown test where he held his nerves batted session by session and made sure that India did not lose the match. He has the record of hitting 4 back to back centuries in test cricket. He also holds the envious record of playing 94 consecutive test matches which is a testimony to his fitness levels. He also holds a record 410 run partnership with our swashbuckler Virender Sehwag vs Pakistan.
As regards his one day career I suppose he is one of the most under rated cricketers in world ODI cricket. He has been a great finisher and has averaged nearly 55 in the matches India won. He does not have the audacious six hitting capability that Sachin or Sourav possesses but he has the right temperment and the smartness required for an ODI player. He was criticized and rightly so during the early part of his career but he came back strongly by becoming the top run scorer with 461 runs in the 1999 world cup in England. He was involved in 300+ run partnerships twice in ODIs and he has not been dismissed for a duck for 120 consecutive innings. Who could forget the way he has handled the wicket-keeping responsibilities to accomodate an extra batsmen which has produced rich dividends during the 2002-04 season. He has even produced some cameos like the 22 ball 50 against New Zealand and some 64 ball 92 against England :) .
He is one of the very few cricketers(infact 4 of them while I write this blog) who has scored the grand double of surpassing 10000 runs in both forms of cricket, forget the 20-20 for now where scoring 10000 is a distant dream. He was the fastest in the world to reach the 9000 run mark in test cricket but what followed is a lean patch where he struggled with his form for the next thousand runs and when he reached that milestone he was quite a relieved man. These are the words that this humble cricketer spoke after reaching his 10000 land mark in test cricket: "It's a proud moment for sure. For me, growing up, I dreamt of playing for India. When I look back, I probably exceeded my expectations with what I have done over the last 10 to 12 years. I never had an ambition to do it because I never believed - it is just a reflection of my longevity in the game."
Of course he may not be as authoritative as Sourav during his captaincy he has delivered the test series wins at England and West Indies which India has not been doing decades.He was the wisden cricketer of the year in 2000. He was awarded the ICC test player and player of the year for the year 2004.
Whatever be the accolades he has received but what stands tall is the Mr Dependable title which truly reflects his cricketing career. I hope that he could complete 30 test centuries by the time he ends his test career.
