Rahul The Wall

It was September 16, 2011, when Indian Cricket followers and entire cricket community had witnessed a historical moment in Cricket when The Wall was playing his last ever ODI against England. I did not liked the way he got out, looking at his records of not getting bowled out much of the time but, if I compare, Bradman got out at zero in his final innings against Rahul getting half century in last ODI, I take it.

I am a great admire of Rahul and the way he has shaped his cricket career. He started as a great test player but, he always lacked a luck to be in top stories. I exactly remember the Lords test when Dada and he were playing for the first time and Saurav made his maiden test century and Dravid missing out merely by 5 runs. But, the consistency which Rahul has shown is unparallel. I have always liked batsman like Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Praveen Amre and all those who depend on technicality for their batting but, Dravid was the most successful of the all. The reason may be his Strong determination ignoring all the criticism.

There was a time when Dravid was unwanted part of ODI team but, he managed to fine tune his batting style and his attitude to match ODI temperament. Moreover, he worked upon his Keeping skills to be an inevitable part of Indian ODI squad. I feel sorry for him for not being a part of the world cup winning team (I may be partial when writing this but, he could have been a part of that team). He has shown the world that if you keep your basics correct you can perform well in any form of cricket. For example, his three sixes in the last T20 match were awesome. Something which was mix of the technique with slog. Though the strokes were similar in style like Yusuf Pathan hitting it over boundary the style statement of Rahul made it more technical.

I always had a quarrel with one of my friends at Rajkot (Vishal Kothari) about Sachin and Dravid. (Though personally I feel there is no comparison. Both of them have their own way of playing. I am also a fan of Sachin but any blind follower of Sachin must admit that Consistency wise there is no match of Dravid). I admit that Sachin is the greatest player produced by India in the world of Cricket and I do not want to show Dravid superior than Sachin. But, personally I have always put Dravid ahead of any cricketer. I admit that Dravid does not have any attractive stroke play but he has classical drives to disturb any bowler in the world, I admit that he can not hit big sixes but, his capacity to play in gaps makes him a better player. His ability to stick to the wicket in Test cricket and score the runs was his greatest strength. You will rarely watch him getting out for a rash shot which you may find with any other cricketer.

I happened to read the article written by Dipak Solia (Editor of Aah Jindgi) in Divya Bhaskar about Sachin and Dravid. I was always the fan of Mr. Soliya's writing and by writing this article he has really made a special place in my mind. He describes Sachin as China and Rahul as India. He says that Sachin like China have attractive stork play but Dravid like India progresses slowly but steadily. He has critically written plus and minus of both great player and he has put in extra effort to make sure that he has never compared them. He says Sachin is No. 1 but Dravid is No.2  with a minor difference. A great article a must read for both Sachin's and Rahul's fan.

Rahul had a great life as a cricketer, he has a great cricketing mind and was a great slip fielder. I have always tried to incorporate his style in my batting (with a great failure) and I consider my self lucky to watch him playing cricket. Apart from being a good cricketer you can feel that Rahul is a great human being. You would never find any cricketer giving adverse remarks on him. I wish him best of his life and would be keen to see him playing the test cricket.

Good by Rahul.