Tag Archives: rahul dravid
Boxing Day Test Cricket : Indians reach Down Under
Apart from the hard bouncy wickets, a boisterous lager induced crowd, its also the beginning of Summer in Australia. So in an attempt to get acclimatised to such starkly different conditions, some members of the Indian test squad reached the shores down under, a couple of days back. The contingent comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha feature in this fan captured video as they come out of the arrival hall of the Melbourne Airport. The MCG as its customary, will host the first test of the series which is famously referred to as “The Boxing Day Test”.
For the spectators in the ground a 100,000 of them and the millions around the globe that follow the sport, this is an event that is anticipated and followed very closely. The fact that India are the visitors this time only adds on to that festive fervour. Expect to see a sea of Santa hats and if there is one piece of living room Christmas decor You fancy on Yourself, there is likelihood that You may catch someone adorning it on the telly. In all fairness its a sight to see and having witnessed it for decades waking up in the wee hours of cold boxing day mornings in India, I hope someday I will experience it first hand.
I plan to follow every ball of the series and have some serious plans in reference to that. But for now, the images that are flooding my mind dates back to some 10 – 15 years back where I’d be the first in the family to wake up in the morning, all wrapped in woolens and lousy socks grabbing a hot beverage, giving in to hysteria of a wild capacity crowd enjoying a warm sunny summer morning some 7000 kms away, on the telly. The MCG incidentally is the not most sporting of wickets, but the feverish hysteria surrounding the match is always one of the most anticipated events of the year. Be sure to subscribe to it, if You’re in Malaysia (see I need to pay for such necessities).
All the best to India for the match and the series. Here is the link for all the info about the series.
(More serious posts covering the series to follow, under Cricket)
Video Courtesy : http://www.cricketcountry.com
Rahul Dravid : Transcending Perfection
Well its time to bid adieu to a legend of the sport from its ODI version. Arguably the perfect ambassador of the sport and one of the finest gentlemen the game has had the privilege to see. Having followed the sport for nearly two decades I have not seen another one, who with all the heights he’s scaled, still wears the look of a young student, hungry to learn from his mistakes and most admirably willing to admit them. This one characteristic will always make him the head of a very prestigious school. The remarkable fact is that, enrollment into the institution is exhibiting a downward trend, gradually becoming non existent.
Raise it again Dravid
For which the cricketers alone cannot be blamed. Its us the fans and our demand for more is what had caused this. But more of that later. Today is about Rahul Dravid. The name that has been synonym to disaster recovery in cricket and hence his nick name “The Wall”. More often than not this adage was earned through his Test Cricket exploits. However the fact that the travelling Indian team esp. its batsmen being prone to a well known, universally accepted, self demolition mode, meant “The Wall’ was an honour well earned. Its most recent loot has been the World Cup, but RG unfortunately will not have his name in that list.
His most remarkable contribution to the ODI form of the game and specially to India, has been his definitive attitude and the various roles he put his hands up for, when the establishment had nowhere to go. In the earlier years of the 21st century it was becoming common knowledge that 6 batsmen with 1 wicket keeper batsmen was the norm. With no MS Dhonis in the candidature list that time (almost a sin), RG opted to done the glove. He chose to accept the brick bats for his inability of mastering the basics of the specific task at hand every now and then, but always worked twice as hard to make up for it with his bat. He more often than not, succeeded. And so did India. One very telling factor amongst many, that led us to the finals of the 2003 world cup campaign in RSA, was this.
Rahul Dravid belonged to an era of the Tendulkars & Gangulys and to some extent the Sehwags & Yuvrajs too. All exceptionally flamboyant stroke players who could change the mood and outcome of a game in a very short span of time. RG could do the same but then again You needed someone who could almost nonchalantly get into 2nd gear, get stuck, repair and leave a platform for the others to go hammers and tongs around him. He was the man for such occasions. He thrived in them. And for that, I as a fan of the game in general and the Indian Cricket team in particular, would like to express my gratitude and heartfelt Thank You to Rahul Dravid, for the memories.
