in Test history, onFriday announced his retirement from international
cricket where he has been a star for over 15 years.
Rahul Dravid's glorious Test career
Dravid made the announcement with the BCCI president, N Srinivasan
andformwer captain Anil Kumble at a press conference in Bangalore.
The 39-year-old Dravid had announced his retirement from ODI cricket
in England last year after been surprisingly recalled in the ODI team
due to his stupendous performance during the Test series against
England in which he scored three centuries.
Dravid played in 164 Test matches since making his debut against
England at the Lord's in 1996. He scored 13,288 runs for an impressive
average of 52.31 and aggregates second only to Sachin Tendulkar who
has 15470 runs in 188 Test matches.
Dravid, nicknamed the 'Wall'for his dour defence, is also a world
record holder in the number of Test catches.He took 210 catches,
mostly in the slip cordon.
Dravid is the first of the three ageing greats of Indian cricket,
besides Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, to retire.
The Karnataka batsman hada wonderful tour of Englandbut his
performance in the recent tour of Australia wasbelow par, prompting
calls that it was time for him and Laxman to hang their boots.
In an illustrious Test career, Dravid hit 36 centuries and 63
half-centuries with 270 against Pakistan being his highest score. In
ODIs, he has compiled 10,889 runs in344 matches for an average of
39.16. He also slammed 12 ODI centuries and 83 half-centuries.
Under his capataincy, India won away Test series in the West Indies as
well as England but had a disastrous 2007 World Cup where they were
out in the first round.
Dravid, however will be seen leading Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming
fifth edition of Indian Premier League.
Dravid gave up the Indian Test captaincy when no wasasking for his
head and just after he had led the side to a series win in
England.Also, like with the captaincy, the call hasn't been made in
haste in the middle of a series, there was a lot of deliberation, with
the clincher being that with the Indian team having finished with the
tours of the big three nations - South Africa, England and Australia -
the extra challenge that the man thrives on, would have been missing
for a while.
Now, Dravid couldn't really care if his runs came against Bangladesh
or Zimbabwe , he has always been hungry for more, but at 39, the plate
was always half-full rather than half-empty and that is the basis of
his decision. With the call having been made, Dravid is at peace and
now,most ironically, he can concentrate on the upcoming IPL, normally
the least of his priorities. Surely he would have expected a lot of
his IPL press conferences to centre around his Test future and in one
timely stroke, he has dealt with it.
Dravid may be at peace but Indian cricket surely will take some time
to recover from this body blow.Things will move on but it will not be
the same without the calming, assured presence of Dravid walking out
at thefall of the first Indian wicket.The gentle raising of the bat,
the shoulders stretched wide in celebration on reaching yet another
landmark, all following his literally sweating bucketfuls, will no
longer be on view.
Oppositions the world over will rejoice, bowlers will jump with joy in
the knowledge that they will nothave to work so hard to get a single
wicket. Batsmenwho had got used to their nicks being gobbled up at
slip by the man with the safest pair of hands will sigh in relief, but
to a man they will also agree that thegame itself will be poorer for
his absence.
Dravid, indeed, was a greatambassador of the game, a perfect role
model for the gentleman's game.
It's time to say goodbye andgood luck to a true legend. Thank you
Rahul for all the wonderful memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment