All I want to do today is sit back and savour the moment when Sachin scored the 100th run of his 100th ton, removed his helmet, looked to the skies, then pointed to the Indian flag on his helmet and kissed it!!! There can never be such a moment in Cricket ever again! That is precisely why I decided to post my tribute to another great player today, the day that is a golden day in the history of Cricket and will be remembered by every true lover of the game.
"My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride." These are the words chosen by Rahul Dravid to say his final farewell to international cricket and the world knows he is the only one in the current cricketing world who has lived his words. And to this great legend I dedicate my sincere and heartfelt lines.
Cricket, they say, is a gentleman's game and if ever there was a gentleman in modern day cricket, it was Rahul Dravid and with his retirement the curtains fall on an era of cricket where some respect for the gentleman's game still existed! He is one cricketer who personified the spirit of cricket - that it is a contest to be won by wielding the bat and handling the ball in the right way and that being aggressive does not mean sledging and cheap theatrics on field but it is a state of mind in which the focus is only on one's game and belief in oneself and ones skills is to such an extent as not to be cowed down by the opponents skills. His dedication is so complete that it looks almost as if he is in a meditative state when he walks in to the field. His determination and focus was so strong that you could actually see the verbal abuses hurled by the likes of greats such as Allan Donald bounce off of him! His actions are so deliberate that it is transparent that all that matters to him is the game and for him nothing and nobody is bigger than the game. Yes, he is the only one of his kind. A class of his own. Every new cricketer invariably gets compared to the likes of Sachin, Richards, Bradman, Ponting etc. But no one has yet come near to being compared to this legend. None so technically perfect, none with such attitude and respect for the game, none with his temperament, none with such conviction for handling immense pressure and yet be unmoved by any kind of adulation, speculation, publicity. Sorry! But that is the truth. In today's cricketing scene... and with the kind of fame, publicity, pressure and the money, it is next to impossible that you will find someone who can hold a candle to Rahul Dravid's caliber.
Yes, 'The Wall', the ever 'Mr.Dependable', the most composed and the least animated individual on the field of cricket has returned to the pavilion for the last time!!! The sad truth is, in a country so consumed with religion, and cricket being the religion of all, we placed 'The God' up on 'The Wall' and then forgot to notice that as the pedestal on which the God stood grew in stature, 'the God' started shining brighter! Dravid's grand innings has come to an end and the world has given him a standing ovation on his brave, conscious and conscientious contribution to the game.
The Great Wall of China may one day turn to dust but our wall will live on... a legend... a folklore, an enigmatic soul
to future generations who will hear his story.
This may yet be my most sincere and most emotional writing but the subject of this piece deserves no less from an ardent admirer. Live on Jammy!!!.
