http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229 - Reflecting on Cricket’s high-profile retirements in 2012 - Part 1 - Opinion
Year 2012 has so far been one of the most eventful years for cricket, not for the records, mega-events or controversies but because of the number of retirements. Interestingly, most of these retirements are high-profile and some even surprising, the year
started with the most expected news as Rahul Dravid bid adieu to his international cricket, and the last one came as the least expected one, when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MV-Boucher-c2048 was forced to retire in the most unfortunate instances in cricket history involving a career-ending
injury to his eye.
While words can never encompass our gratitude for the services these greats have rendered for the game of cricket, let us briefly go through the career of these greats as our tribute to their contributions.
Rahul Dravid:
There are few cricketing generations that can boast of producing the legends of the likes of Rahul Dravid. His calm demeanor and his natural courtesy of a true gentleman can only add to his aura as a true inspiration.
A classical Test batsman, with a class act, he is truly a treat to watch for all and sundry, when he is in full flow. There are few players who could have claimed the mastery of stroke play as Dravid did, a rock-solid player, who always valued his wicket
- a trait that helped him become the third highest scorer in the history of the game.
Starting off as a 23-year-old, he almost had a dream-like beginning to his career, where fell just 5 runs short of a debut century at Lord's. However, that was enough for him to announce his arrival of at the big stage.
"I was a bit disappointed, sure, but not all that much. In the sense, I was happy I scored 95 runs, I looked at it as a cup half full, instead of half empty," Dravid said later.
It was this pragmatic approach, which he would employ in the coming sixteen years of his career. Unlike his many contemporaries, Dravid never had a meteoric rise to his career, his meticulous approach towards the game always meant for a more methodical progression
as he gradually became the mainstay of Indian batting.
But his batting technique was soon stereotyped as one-dimensional; Dravid responded to his critics to become the seventh highest ODI scorer of all time and in addition to the most successful slip fielder of all time.
Following Sourav Ganguly’s axing, Dravid became the Indian captain, and while his two-year stint wasn’t a very successful one, he still managed to lead his side to series victories against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and England, something they had not achieved in a long
time.
During the whitewash at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 finally led him to call it a day on his glittering
career.
His final tally of 13288 runs (at 52.31) in 164 Tests and 10889 runs (at 39.16) in 344 ODIs, can only give the idea of the command Dravid enjoyed on the field, and while no player is irreplaceable, to find another with the dignity and steely determination
of Rahul Dravid remains an unlikely possibility.
“The life I have lived for 16 years and, before that, five years of first class cricket. It [cricket] is all I have known all my grown life … I just knew in my heart that the time was right, and I was very happy and comfortable in what I had achieved and
what I had done," Dravid concluded.
To be continued…..
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