The WALL that never fell.......

     Last evening ,I was mentally perturbed when I saw my favourite cricket team bow down to the Aussies at the Adelaide Oval after playing so well in the whole of CB series. It was when I switched on the T.V and the headlines read"RAHUL DRAVID TO RETIRE". For a moment, I thought it was from the ODIs(When i forgot the fact that he had already signed off long back).But my conscience reminded me of the Australian debacle that might have prompted him to take this decision.

    It was on 20th June,1996 when a tall man with white jerseys and a blue helmet walked into the pitch at Lord"s. Probably the stage was all set to welcome,arguably,the finest no. 3 the world has ever seen. Sourav Ganguly also made a debut in that match and it was his ton which overshadowed Rahul"s classy 95. From that very match, it was already evident that this young talent was something special and needed to be only groomed. Dominic Cork,Alan Mullaly and Lewis gave a surpirised look at this rare talent as to how can he do it with utmost ease.Then came many battles which he won step by step,Headingley,Jamaica,Hamilton,Johannesburg,Rawalpindi,Kolkata to name a few. He killed the patience of the opposition and made them look tired and worn out.

   He did not dominate like a Tendulkar did,was not as swashbuckling as a Sehwag,was not a clean hitter of the ball like a Yuvraj,neither a finisher like MSD nor as wristy as a VVS,but still the team depended on him who stood there like the WALL,blocking the path to victory between his team and the opposition. The world will miss the elegant leave outside the offstump,the leaning cover drive,the backfoot square cut,his slip fielding and the raising of the willow from the half way down the pitch to celebrate the century.He was the salt in the curry without which it was tasteless. He was the brake which controlled the vehicle to avoid a downfall or collision. He climbed the mountain with sheer determination and patience when the stones kept tumbling from the top, yet he marched on and on to guide his troop home. When all the soldiers died,he stood there all alone to face the the opposition and conquer them.
 

   The fine knock at Jamaica way back in 2006 prompted the great Brian Charles Lara to quote as "The best innings,I have seen in my lifetime".He gave the artistic look to the middle order. He opened,kept wickets,captained,batted at any position whenever the team wanted to, yet he never got the limelight like a Tendulkar or a Lara or a Ponting, he truely deserved. He was the real architect of his innings. He kept his willow hit the pitch like a heartbeat,waiting for the ball to be released and elegantly leaved it when it was outside off taking a big stride forward or leaned for a cover drive or whipped through the midwicket, the prettiest of them all,only to kill the bowler"s patience and add to his frustration. He kept on perspiring ball by ball,over by over,session by session to take his country home. Facing the likes of Walsh,Ambrose,McGrath,Wasim,Vaas,Murali,Warne with ease is no joke. When we suddenly looked at the scorecard,we quickly moved our eyes on to Sachin or Sourav or Sehwag and when we noticed that they did not contribute enough, there was a formidable score at No.3.He is probably the most underrated batsman of this era.

     Above all his immense dignity, respect for his teammates and the opposition, charismatic personality has influenced people to respect him and develop a love,especially,for Test cricket.With his retirement,Test cricket will never be the same again for me. His on field behavior taught me sincerity,patience,honesty and so on.He will be always missed,as the great always are.Many might have idolised a SRT/Lara/Ponting/Gilly/Vivian, but I am proud enough to consider Rahul Sharad Dravid as one of my idols. This is my tribute to the world"s finest No.3.