Is the "Wall" slowly crumbling?
Manoj Madhavan -
Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:11 PM
Rahul Dravid's cricketing career has come a full circle: he made his debut in Lords, England in 1996, and for many, cricket's Mecca also marked the beginning of the end of an illustrious innings, when he captained India in the 2007 England tour. The Wall scored the only one fifty in the 2007 England tour after which he resigned from the captaincy.
He was averaging 58.76 in the series against West Indies. This was the golden period for Dravid. He scored crucial 68 runs in the second innings of the fourth test of the series and was instrumental in India's 1-0 series victory. Dravid was Man of the series.
Since then, his average has plummeted with each series. Whether it was Pakistan in India, India in Australia, South Africa in India. Finally, in the just-concluded series in Sri Lanka, Dravid's average slid from a healthy 58.76 to 53.93. The only saving grace was his 111 against South Africa in the first test at Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. But even then, Sehwag's triple hundred was the talking point.
Dravid's contribution to Indian cricket can never be questioned. I might understate something when it comes to Dravid. There was a passion and purpose from everything he did—from captaining the team to the time when he was the makeshift wicket-keeper to all the times when the team management kept changing his batting order. May be, he didn't excel in everything he did, but the attitude and the commitment that he carried to the pitch was unquestionable. His not being a hyperbole might have worked against him. Today, and for the sake of all his fans, Rahul Dravid looks like a wounded tiger, wanting to do another kill, his mind willing but the flesh not permitting.