This piece is not about his runs, his centuries or his partnership – we have millions of articles dedicated on this facet. So let us move above all this! This article is about Rahul – the generous soul whose attitude makes him stand tall above others, this article is about RAHUL SHARAD DRAVID!
Rahul Dravid, the Wall of Indian Cricket team for decades is one man who hates to see a fall! Every single time, this man has risen out of ashes, just like a phoenix and went on to create histories after histories. This selfless man sees the benefit of his team before seeing his advantages. Rather, there is no such word like “personal benefit” in his own dictionary. He may not be a Tendulkar, who is applauded as GOD in the history of world cricket, but what is his fault that he was born in his era? Rahul is the only batsman who has scored more than 10,000 runs in both the formats after Sachin Tendulkar! But this is also true that there cannot be two gods at one time. So, this selfless creature has been given the status of “The Wall” and “Mr. Dependable” and has been kept behind curtains since ages!
Many emerging cricketers can only dream of what Rahul has done for the Indian cricket – fighting so many battles and bringing glory to his country! With his warrior like attitude and amazing approach to the game, he has and will become one of the greatest icons of the world cricket. But if you are one of his CRITICS, this piece of writing would hold no relevance to you and you would keep on ignoring his contributions one after another! You will find fault in his innings where he managed to score just 15 or 20 runs and would babble about his failure to score a century just like a Sachin or a Sehwag, who managed to make centuries in the same match. But what about the matches where his sweat spoke for his achievements? These critics would not utter a single word in his praise when this icon makes a double century or pour his heart out in saving a match on any given day! But these are CRITICS for you! You can’t help but to ignore them!
I know he does not have centuries like Tendulkar, killer-instinct like Ganguly, or strike rate like that of Sehwag, but one thing which makes him superior over others is his selfless, generous and unselfish approach towards his love for this game! And this facet is enough to shut the mouths of all those critics who babble about this icon. In this team, where we have all the politics running in the veins, players fighting to get slots, planning conspiracies for acquiring the position of a captain, we have one such player who thinks above all these aspects – he is Rahul Dravid!
Somewhere in all these years, Rahul never got his due as a player! But can we question about his adherence and devotion for his team. Has he ever refused to bat at any position, which was allotted to him? Has he ever denied keeping wickets at the time when he was struggling with bat? He managed to handle both the responsibilities at the same time, just because Indian team needed to accommodate the position of one extra batsman in the team!
Here is what legendary spin bowler Shane Warne wrote in his anecdote:
“The fortress could also describe Rahul. Because once, Dravid was set, you needed the bowling equivalent of a dozen cannon firing all at once to blast him down.”
But this is Rahul Dravid for you! Lack of acknowledgement never de-motivated him! He has still maintained that selfless approach towards life and his love – Cricket! No matter the selectors pick him or drop him, he will continue making contributions in the Indian cricket with his selfless, yet (intentionally) unnoticed efforts!
I am hoping his lack of runs in this current test series against Sri Lanka does not go against his favor! And I can only call it an irony that legend like Rahul Dravid would now be seen less and less in the coming years! (Good news for his CRITICS, but bad news for all we Rahul Dravid lovers out there). But “Such is Life”!
Source:http://blog.abhinav.com/
