From the archives-Praise be to thee Jammy!!

“It was Gavaskar
De real master
Just like a wall
We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all, not at all
You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all”

Lord Realtor perhaps had a premonition of the arrival of another of the ilk of the Little Master when he penned the above lines. The Little Master would have for sure given a tongue in the cheek smile on hearing his glory in tunes .Had he written these lines on Dravid, who would have squarely merited the laurels, all he would have fetched would have been a stoic response

For, all that made sense to this man was the performance in the middle and the consistency about it. Bet, he will be ready to trade all the limelight showered on him for one more exquisite cover drive.

The Indian line up is undeniably a ship sans its anchor without the maestro. Hamilton January 1999. Breezy conditions, fielders with piled up sweaters, green top and a tall and strong kiwi bowler (Chris Cairns) menacingly takes his strides for the run up. Dravid sways, ducks, puts a few pine trees to shame while doing so and sees off the new ball. Goes on to construct a grandiose and flawless 190!!

Will test cricket ever be the same again without its doyen!!!!!!

His golden run coincided with the captaincy of, arguably, India’s best captain Sourav Ganguly, with a searing test average of 105 during that time. Yours truly would have fancied his chances with such a weapon in his arsenal!!Not to say of Dada!!!

For the previous generation who were in awe of the dissimilar prowess of Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath, Rahul Dravid was the best of both worlds.

The rock of Gibraltar in defense also had powerful wristy strokes and a splendid hook shot. For all that we know, this shot might also walk into oblivion after Dravid. It is such a sore to the eye to watch the new breed of cricketers play the hook shot right in front of their eyes with the vision almost blocked.!!!!!!

True to the words of Sir Donald Bradman, “two extra runs are not worth risking the wicket’’, Rahul has  just 21 sixes in a test career spanning 16 years but has penetrated  almost every gap on the field with some special treatment for the extra cover position.

Rahul will perhaps be the last in the elite list of puritans who have adorned this great game such as Len Hutton, Geoff Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Jacques Kallis, Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Barry Richards, Colin Cowdrey, Hanif Mohhamed, Greg Chappel, Glen Turner and Vijay Merchant. An ambassador to this, soon becoming extinct, school of cricket!!!

Well, his change of willow to SG might not have turned the tables of fortune but as an ardent admirer hope that this decision will open up new vistas such as taking up the mantle of coaching the Indian team

Rahul Sharad Dravid may not have received his share of acclaim to the fullest level like his comrade of a 1000 battles Anil Kumble, but his name will certainly be taken with a sense of astonishment when accompanied by such statistics!!