India were 245/5 and trailing by 29 runs when Shane Warne,one of the greatest players in the history of the game,delivered a short one.The batsman on strike,Rahul Dravid,hammered the ball on his backfoot for a boundary.The concerned look on Steve Waugh's face, after the boundary was hit ,perfectly encapsulated the Aussie exasperation.Dravid went on to score 180.Those who witnessed in 2001,the Dravid-Laxman innings in the second match at Kolkata, will agree that it will always be one of the greatest comeback victory by any Indian side.This is not the first time Dravid saved the team's neck.Though always criticised for having a boring,defensive batting approach,he has stood when the God,the legend and the talented have fallen.No,'The Wall' is not a fitting name for this man,his true fans still like him to be referred as 'Jammy'.
A classical Test match batsman is a rare sight nowadays.And Rahul Dravid is of the last few who have managed to survive the pace of the faster version of the game.Early in his career he was stereotyped as a one-dimensional batsman who could occasionally stroke a loose ball around. His adaptation to the smaller version of the game was methodical rather than meteoric or dashing to say the least, but once there, Dravid never looked back.Of the many opening pairs the Indian ODI team has had, the Ganguly-Dravid pair remains a favorite and after Mark Waugh he is the most successful slip catcher till date.Unfortunately,post 2000 his career was not all colorful.The accidental ball tampering incident, the controversial Multan declaration(Sachin was at 194) and the early World cup exit under his captaincy did mess a little with his gentleman-ly image.However,those who know better always understand the fact that even the great have some flimsy moments.It must have been difficult to rise under the shadow of the legendary Tendulkar and the flamboyant Ganguly but Dravid never complained.He batted when the team was struggling,bowled when the team needed to fill in few overs,and even kept behind the wickets-all for the team's sake.And now when the BCCI one fine day suddenly (read in crisis) decided to include him in the ODI team ,he announced his ODI retirement.The media cried foul,the critics labeled him a fool but to his loyal fans he has earned some more respect.
There is also a thin thread that binds this Rahul with the other Rahul,Rahul Gandhi.In a major embarrassment, CNN-IBN had released a statement that its earlier salient ‘State of the Nation’ poll finding that ‘most Indians want Rahul Dravid to succeed Dr. Manmohan Singh as the PM'.The channel in an attempt to cover up the blooper quickly announced the erroneously printing and commented that they were referring to the Gandhi scion instead.When Rahul Dravid was told about the corrected findings, he laughed it off sportingly.Though,Dravid who is sensible,intellectual and charming by a cricketing yardstick, is according to few Indians better suited to be the PM than the dimpled Rahul.
Rahul Gandhi is touted to be the next in line from the first family of Indian politics but he still lacks the charisma of his grandmother and might succumb to his father's fate.The Congress party today has nothing close to a mandate, and it is leading inarguably the country's most corrupt coalition government.His novelty as the handsome,educated politician has now worn off and he has failed to show any interest in becoming the single powerful force to save the party from the shackles of utter helplessness.He remains by Indian standards a novice in the grimy pool of politics and is difficult to perceive him as a leader.More so, he has always been shielded by the senior Congressmen and for some reason he hardly voices out his opinions on some of the very critical issues. Now that the oldest party in Indian politics is in serious crisis he has the ideal opportunity to display his mettle and cast his charm on all of us. He could have emerged as next big thing but it did not happen. As a result, we are still unaware of his personal opinions on subjects concerning our nation.All is not lost though,he can continue with his socialist attempts, making way for a seasoned party member to take the reigns and wait for a suitable time to rise as the man for the top job.
P.S:Digvijay Singh said at 41,Rahul now is a mature person with sound political instincts and can become the Prime Minister.We all know the senior Congressman knows better and is acting along...also since when did India start listening to him.
A classical Test match batsman is a rare sight nowadays.And Rahul Dravid is of the last few who have managed to survive the pace of the faster version of the game.Early in his career he was stereotyped as a one-dimensional batsman who could occasionally stroke a loose ball around. His adaptation to the smaller version of the game was methodical rather than meteoric or dashing to say the least, but once there, Dravid never looked back.Of the many opening pairs the Indian ODI team has had, the Ganguly-Dravid pair remains a favorite and after Mark Waugh he is the most successful slip catcher till date.Unfortunately,post 2000 his career was not all colorful.The accidental ball tampering incident, the controversial Multan declaration(Sachin was at 194) and the early World cup exit under his captaincy did mess a little with his gentleman-ly image.However,those who know better always understand the fact that even the great have some flimsy moments.It must have been difficult to rise under the shadow of the legendary Tendulkar and the flamboyant Ganguly but Dravid never complained.He batted when the team was struggling,bowled when the team needed to fill in few overs,and even kept behind the wickets-all for the team's sake.And now when the BCCI one fine day suddenly (read in crisis) decided to include him in the ODI team ,he announced his ODI retirement.The media cried foul,the critics labeled him a fool but to his loyal fans he has earned some more respect.
There is also a thin thread that binds this Rahul with the other Rahul,Rahul Gandhi.In a major embarrassment, CNN-IBN had released a statement that its earlier salient ‘State of the Nation’ poll finding that ‘most Indians want Rahul Dravid to succeed Dr. Manmohan Singh as the PM'.The channel in an attempt to cover up the blooper quickly announced the erroneously printing and commented that they were referring to the Gandhi scion instead.When Rahul Dravid was told about the corrected findings, he laughed it off sportingly.Though,Dravid who is sensible,intellectual and charming by a cricketing yardstick, is according to few Indians better suited to be the PM than the dimpled Rahul.
Rahul Gandhi is touted to be the next in line from the first family of Indian politics but he still lacks the charisma of his grandmother and might succumb to his father's fate.The Congress party today has nothing close to a mandate, and it is leading inarguably the country's most corrupt coalition government.His novelty as the handsome,educated politician has now worn off and he has failed to show any interest in becoming the single powerful force to save the party from the shackles of utter helplessness.He remains by Indian standards a novice in the grimy pool of politics and is difficult to perceive him as a leader.More so, he has always been shielded by the senior Congressmen and for some reason he hardly voices out his opinions on some of the very critical issues. Now that the oldest party in Indian politics is in serious crisis he has the ideal opportunity to display his mettle and cast his charm on all of us. He could have emerged as next big thing but it did not happen. As a result, we are still unaware of his personal opinions on subjects concerning our nation.All is not lost though,he can continue with his socialist attempts, making way for a seasoned party member to take the reigns and wait for a suitable time to rise as the man for the top job.
P.S:Digvijay Singh said at 41,Rahul now is a mature person with sound political instincts and can become the Prime Minister.We all know the senior Congressman knows better and is acting along...also since when did India start listening to him.
