Dubai: As I entered the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Bengaluru for the World Cup match between India and England, it was impossible to miss this huge wall on the left with some numbers flashing on top.
The wall was built to commemorate the heroics of Rahul Dravid, nicknamed "The Wall", and was meant to be a source of inspiration for budding cricketers. The number reveals the runs that this stellar batsman has scored so far in international cricket.
As I reached the entrance to the press box, I saw Dravid surrounded by his fans.
He was not part of the World Cup squad since the selectors had not considered him good enough for one-day cricket.
Strangely, the selectors remember this great cricketer when the wickets are tough and only a technically sound batsman like those from England, South Africa and West Indies can survive them.
Dravid was at the stadium to help his friends — Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad — who had become Karnataka Cricket Association officials and were working hard as organisers.
"Looks like his days are also numbered and very soon he will be joining his retired friends as a KCA official," a fellow scribe remarked.
None believed there was still a lot of cricket left in this gritty player, and in few months, one saw him at his best not only in Test cricket but also in one-dayers.
Most disciplined
That's Dravid, an unassuming, heavy accumulator of runs. In fact, Dravid is one of the most technically perfect batsmen and disciplined cricketer that India has produced.
Very few may be aware that Dravid is fifth on the list of batsmen with the most fifty-plus scores in one-day cricket. His last innings at Cardiff on Friday was his 95th fifty plus score in one-day Internationals.
Seeing him stand unassumingly near the pavilion, and that too with a smile, one wondered what thoughts may be going through his mind when players with lesser talent walked past him on to the field.
Dravid is a gentleman cricketer.
He hardly complains and has always got his bat do the talking for him. Not once has he challenged the selectors or uttered remarks against them.
Unfortunately public memory is so fickle that hardly anyone remembers he was the batsman of the 1999 World Cup in England with 461 runs.
The selectors had dropped him for the 2011 World Cup claiming he was not fit for one-day cricket.
Little do they know that even today Dravid is one of the fittest cricketers in the game.
His discipline and professionalism should be a lesson for every young cricketer.
Dravid has a fine cricketing brain and would have been successful as a captain especially in one-day cricket, but he lacks support from the selectors.
He is too gentle for a cricketer, and to be successful as an Indian captain one has to be a street fighter.
His decency is visible even in the manner he accepted the request from selectors to play in the one-dayers in England, and then politely announce his retirement from this form of the game.
Dravid is one among the only five batsmen in the world to have scored over 10,000 runs in both forms of the game. His career should be remembered for eternity on how to achieve immortality as a cricketer through silent perseverance and hard work.
He will always be known as "The Wall" that never cracked.
Statistics: A shining ODI career
- Rahul Dravid made his ODI debut vs Sri Lanka at Singapore in April 1996 about two and a half months before he made his Test debut in June the same year.
- He has won 14 Man of match awards in ODI cricket.
Batting records
- Has scored more than 1000 runs in England and Sri Lanka
- Has scored the most (1899 runs) against Pakistan in ODI's
- Has scored more ODI runs away (4044) than at home (3406)
- He holds the record of going 120 innings between Aug 1999 and Feb 2004 without a duck in ODI's
- Has scored 4000 runs at number three in ODI's the most he has at any position
- Scored 1761 runs in the calendar year 1999 the most by him in a year and was just 6 runs short of being the highest run getter in ODI's that year behind Sourav Gangulys (1767)
- Nine of his 12 hundreds have come batting first. Eight/twelve have been for a winning cause
The World Cup
- Was named the batsman of the 1999 World Cup (his first) with 461 runs. The only other Indian to be a top scorer in a WC being Sachin Tendulkar
- He is the only Indian and second player after Mark Waugh to score back to back hundreds in a World Cup. He scored 110 vs Kenya and 145 vs Sri Lanka during the 1999 WC
- Was vice-captain during the 2003 WC and captain during the 2007 tournament.
Captaincy/Wicketkeeping
- Has played under 6 different captains in ODI's including Shaun Pollock for a World XI side.
- Has led India in 79 ODI's and kept wickets in 74.
- It was during his captaincy the Indian team broke the record for most consecutive ODI's won batting second Dravid was the captain for 15 of the 17 match victorious run.
- Has taken 196 catches and effected 14 stumpings in the limited over format.
Partnership records
- He is the only batsman to be involved in two ODI partnerships of more then 300.
- He was involved in the highest partnership for any wicket in ODI cricket with Tendulkar (331 for the 2nd wkt vs NZ at Hyderabad, 8-11-1999). His 153 is the only score of 150 plus in ODI's.
- His partnership of 318 with Sourav Ganguly vs Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999 is the only 300 run partnership so far in the World Cup
— Statistics by Mohandas Menon
