The Silent Storm

At a time when the whole nation is biting nails for the ton of tons, I give my salute to the silent storm. Spare a thought friends.

Rahul Dravid

Better known as The Wall of Indian Cricket. A man whose mere presence can define understatement in a way no one else can. A man who has always lived in the shadows of contemporaries like Tendulkar, Ganguly and even Sehwag. Even when he has been applauded, it has been restrained rather than spontaneous, limited rather than overwhelming. Such has been this gentleman cricketer’s fate since his maiden international appearance in 1996. 

Dravid has lived up to the name and has been the backbone of Indian Team from the past 15 years.This batsman for all seasons, rapidly advancing towards 39 years in life and yet as capable as he has ever been, recently completed 1,000 runs in a season for the third time in his career to underline his importance and presents an unarguable claim to greatness.  

In the age of noisy spectacles, he has made space for quiet efficiency. In the era of hype and aggressive marketing he has made a room for himself as a solid performer.

Silently yet strongly he has contributed majorly to Indian Cricket. His list of achievements are nothing but mammoth and spectacular. 

Scoring 13000 runs, he is the second highest run scorer in tests only after the almighty Sachin Tendulkar. He has 36 Test Centuries under his belt, he became the first cricketer to take 200 international catches, he has been part of 85 Century Partnerships, holds the record of highest runs scorer in 4th innings surpassing Brain Lara. Regardless, the most striking feature of Dravid is after having so many records, he is outright humble and grounded, these records makes him feel nice, to him they are mere numbers and the more important thing for him to keep performing for the team than just crashing records. 

All said and done, Dravid's cricketing career  has not been a bed roses also, he has faced immense criticism for his slow batting speed, taking too much time in settling at the crease, has been criticized during his captaincy, got axed from the ODI side, considered not good enough to World Cup.

In answer to all this, Dravid has re-invented himself time and again and shut the critic's mouth with the knock of his performance. In late 90's when he wasn't considered good enough for limited over cricket, he worked at his game to the point where he was the top scorer in the 1999 World Cup. 

Then he scored 2 continuous half centuries in the IPL.

This year, his bat did all the talking and when none survived, Dravid emerged to be the rock solid in England. When the Indians succumbed, Dravid rose. He was picked up for his first 20-20 international, nothing but a desperate move by Indian Selection Committee that was low on options. Dravid strongly responded by stroking three consecutive sixes, his small way of reminding the nation that genius in sport will not be chained in format. 

For me Rahul Dravid is nothing but my God of Cricket. I have intensely admired his unmatched technique and ice cool temperament.In my opinion  he is class apart and there will never be a Second Dravid. I have always enjoyed watching him in all the formats, cheered for all his runs, have spanked the people who said even one wrong word against him.Overshadowed he might be by a batsman whose statistical measure elevates him to a position of privilege, but never can he be erased from history. 

He is and always will be the wall that never cracked. 

He is and will always be my Hero.