On the 20th of June 1996, cricket said goodbye to one of its characters. Harold "Dickie" Bird, the games most visible umpire, was standing in his 66th and final test match at Lords between England and India. Before the game, the England captain Michael Atherton arranged for an honour guard with his opposite number on the Indian team to applaud Bird on to the field. Athertons reward was to be given out LBW from the third ball of the game.
Amongst the Indian players clapping Bird onto the field that day was a young batsman, making his debut for his country at the home of cricket. He watched as England compiled 344, and was called to the crease in Indians innings with his side 202-5 and in some degree of trouble. 267 balls and 95 runs later, he was finally dismissed, the match now firmly saved and a reputation established. Rahul Dravid had arrived on the international stage.
Today, March 9th 2012, Dravid has announced his retirement from Test cricket, after walking away from the ODI stage last September. Its a career that has spanned 15 years, 31258 balls faced, 13288 runs scored with 36 Test centuries. He very rarely, if ever, batted at 7 again, becoming one of the most dependable number threes in modern test cricket. Indeed, he scored 10,524 runs coming in at first drop, more than any other player in that position. He received the nickname "The Wall", and this name did much to sum up his importance to the Indian side. While dashing shot makers like Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly and Laxman attracted so much attention for their entertaining innings, it was Dravid who usually had to do the dirty work, the sweeping of the shop floor so to speak, and fight it out for his country. "You're not through Indian until Dravid is in the hutch" was a sentiment shared by many Test captains over this fine player.
He spent two eventful years as captain of his country, appointed by then coach Greg Chappell to the fury of most of the Indian public who still loved Sourav Ganguly (who ironically made his debut in that same Lords test match in 1996). He enjoyed some success as skipper, becoming the first side to win in England for six years in 2007, but was seen by some to be too yielding as a captain, happy to let Chappell call most of the shots.
For one possessing of such a strong defensive technique, it is perhaps strange that Dravid should have been out bowled more times than anyone else in Test cricket history (though he has also played more Test innings than most people, so its a very large sample size). This became apparent towards the end of his career, being out bowled nine times in his last 13 test innings. Bowlers started to use the crease more, confusing Dravid with the angles of delivery, most evidently Tim Bresnans uprooting of his stumps at Edgbaston in 2011. However, during a series in England in which most (OK dammit, ALL) of his team mates failed in conditions that called for strength of character and discipline, Dravid fought single handed to keep England at bay and maintain India's grip on the number one ranking in Test cricket. He was not able to do so, but for this he is almost blameless.
In an era of T20 and run rates in the high 5s, it is sad to say that we will not see another Dravid. Certainly not from India, in a nation where the obsession is now with the shortest, crudest form of the game. Dravid will play on in this format, in the IPL, but this is not a canvas that will see his finest work. I shall miss him, as I suspect most proponents of correct and proper technical batting will also. Best of luck to you Rahul, शुक्रीया (बहुत धन्यवाद)
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