Recently Rahul dravid conquered the peak of claiming the most number of catches by a non wicket keeper surpassing the 181 of Mark Waugh. Mark Waugh summed up rahul dravid in the following words, " Rahul dravid is not a natural slip or close in fielder(Mark was definitely one), but he has made up for that with his enormous concentration ".
Just imagine the plight of a close in fielder who has to concentrate literally the whole day and make split second reflexes on that one or two occassions in a day when someone might get the odd nick.
Mark waugh had, apart from the great shane warne, classic fast bowlers like McDErmott, Gillespie, McGrath and Lee. Hence large share of his catches came from them that means for most of his catches, he had enough time to react. Imagine Rahul's plight. All along he had to field for kumble( with his jumbo deliveries) and Harbhajan. I just want to emphasise the significance of his catches, nothing to take the credit away from the stylish Mark.
If one kid wants me to show a cricketer to follow, It wont be a lara or a sachin, It would be Rahul. Because Rahul was a person who maximised the what he had at his disposal and conquered the highest peaks. The former two were born genius.
He was a batsman who re-invented himself in the 1999 newzealand tour with a chanceless 123 at taupo. This was a time when there was sharp criticism on his pace of runs and he was dropped. There were two pathetically slow innings from him against Kenya( 1 from 21 balls) and Bangladesh( 5 from 33) which lead to his exit for almost six months.
But his status as THE WALL in the test arena was unquestionable throughout. We talk of the brilliance of sachin in the odd one innings in a series. There were umpteen occassions when the whole team except Rahul faltered. People talk of grinding the attack and here is a person who mastered it. The picture of Rahul tapping a scorching high riser from donald right back to the pitch will just be etched in the memories of all those who grew up in the 1990s period.After the 1999 Newzealand series, he was a completely different batsman who could bat in any role. In 1999 world cup, he emerged as the highest scorer( 145 off 129 at taunton!).
The first half of this decade clearly was Rahul's centuries after centuries: 153in the eden gardens epic, 233 Adelaide, 270 rawalpindi, 4 consecutive centuries against westindies & england. That is being prolific for you! Gillete advertisement along with tiger woods and federer was an honour for this smart cricketer from Bangalore..
There was period of 2 to 3 years in which he also acted as the team's wicketkeeper. Selflessness cant get better. We talk of ganguly's captaincy exploits, Rahul played an enormous role in that. But for that wicketkeeping services of dravid, India would have failed miserably as the team balance would have got tilted.
We won our first english series in england under him. 2007 flop was a black mark. Then, after he relinquished his captaincy, there was a lean patch compared to his high standards which led to his unceremonious ouster from the ODI team. But he has realised that his ODI days are over escpecially with the game taking a new dimension under the T20 influence. True, It is not quite a sight if rahul is going to do pure slogging.
I hate dhoni to this day for the way in which he dealt with Ganguly and Dravid in this ouster episode. That was not a way to treat two icons. sudden dropping is reserved for the younger lot. Dhoni could have consulted them, asked them their roadmap and then arrived at a decision or probably he could have made them announce their retirement from the ODIs. I will write another blogpost about Dhoni's hypocrisy and cunningness.
Vintage Dravid was again on display from the english home series and he has been near his best in the current Newzealand series with absolutely no failures. I just fervently hope he carries on for another 2 years.
Coming to his memorable catches.
1) His catch of Nasser Hussain to open his account in 96.
Just imagine the plight of a close in fielder who has to concentrate literally the whole day and make split second reflexes on that one or two occassions in a day when someone might get the odd nick.
Mark waugh had, apart from the great shane warne, classic fast bowlers like McDErmott, Gillespie, McGrath and Lee. Hence large share of his catches came from them that means for most of his catches, he had enough time to react. Imagine Rahul's plight. All along he had to field for kumble( with his jumbo deliveries) and Harbhajan. I just want to emphasise the significance of his catches, nothing to take the credit away from the stylish Mark.
If one kid wants me to show a cricketer to follow, It wont be a lara or a sachin, It would be Rahul. Because Rahul was a person who maximised the what he had at his disposal and conquered the highest peaks. The former two were born genius.
He was a batsman who re-invented himself in the 1999 newzealand tour with a chanceless 123 at taupo. This was a time when there was sharp criticism on his pace of runs and he was dropped. There were two pathetically slow innings from him against Kenya( 1 from 21 balls) and Bangladesh( 5 from 33) which lead to his exit for almost six months.
But his status as THE WALL in the test arena was unquestionable throughout. We talk of the brilliance of sachin in the odd one innings in a series. There were umpteen occassions when the whole team except Rahul faltered. People talk of grinding the attack and here is a person who mastered it. The picture of Rahul tapping a scorching high riser from donald right back to the pitch will just be etched in the memories of all those who grew up in the 1990s period.After the 1999 Newzealand series, he was a completely different batsman who could bat in any role. In 1999 world cup, he emerged as the highest scorer( 145 off 129 at taunton!).
The first half of this decade clearly was Rahul's centuries after centuries: 153in the eden gardens epic, 233 Adelaide, 270 rawalpindi, 4 consecutive centuries against westindies & england. That is being prolific for you! Gillete advertisement along with tiger woods and federer was an honour for this smart cricketer from Bangalore..
There was period of 2 to 3 years in which he also acted as the team's wicketkeeper. Selflessness cant get better. We talk of ganguly's captaincy exploits, Rahul played an enormous role in that. But for that wicketkeeping services of dravid, India would have failed miserably as the team balance would have got tilted.
We won our first english series in england under him. 2007 flop was a black mark. Then, after he relinquished his captaincy, there was a lean patch compared to his high standards which led to his unceremonious ouster from the ODI team. But he has realised that his ODI days are over escpecially with the game taking a new dimension under the T20 influence. True, It is not quite a sight if rahul is going to do pure slogging.
I hate dhoni to this day for the way in which he dealt with Ganguly and Dravid in this ouster episode. That was not a way to treat two icons. sudden dropping is reserved for the younger lot. Dhoni could have consulted them, asked them their roadmap and then arrived at a decision or probably he could have made them announce their retirement from the ODIs. I will write another blogpost about Dhoni's hypocrisy and cunningness.
Vintage Dravid was again on display from the english home series and he has been near his best in the current Newzealand series with absolutely no failures. I just fervently hope he carries on for another 2 years.
Coming to his memorable catches.
1) His catch of Nasser Hussain to open his account in 96.
2) A blinder of Moin khan off srinath in Australia in 2000.
3) The controversial catch of slater in Mumbai in 2001.
4) Martyn's crucial catch off sachin in australia' 2003
5) And the unforgettable catch of gary kirsten at short leg position in the effort making kirsten fall on the ground in south africa 96 :)
The Man in the background. Most of the time.
ReplyDeleteVery nice da.. Overa Dravida Nakkita.
ReplyDelete@aswin,
ReplyDeleteyes :)
@sagopal,
I know you are a draivd fan. This one is for you :)
I definitely agree with your views about Dravid. He had a few - ve's & a lot of +ve's in his career.
ReplyDeleteI used to adore him a lot for a long time even when he wasnt doing good .He really set the standard for Test Cricket & his game was an art. He is the greatest Test Batsmen of my times & there is no arguing that.
But somehow Dravid has slowly lost his favor due to the introduction of modern-day cricket which i wouldn't call cricket. And the sad part is even if he does a cameo knock of a 50 from 30-40 balls , it never gets the impact like a yusuf/dhoni/Yuvraj 50. Main reason was his poor start to one-day batting
And uma , Thanks for bringing the concentration/patience factor of Dravid into limelight. No one would rate Dravid in Top 10 for his catches/fielding considering the stunning catches that have been taken in the world of Intl Cticket by a lot of ppl., But Dravids 181* surpassing Mark Waugh is a great feet & it shouldnt go unnoticed.There is a lot of effort that is being put into tat & believe me Slip fielding is the hardest , not only because of the reflex required , but becoz of the tremendous pressure of standing in that very position.
nice one , another one from a cricket lover i suppose. I second your thought on young cricket lovers to represent their cricketing icon as Dravid against Sachin or Lara. This is for the fact that Lara and Sachin are gifted cricket players, they are demi gods its a god's gift. But cricketers like Dravid are the ones who has taught how to play cricket with patience & concentration.
ReplyDelete@Srihari,
ReplyDeleteI Wil stop watching cricket the day both sachin n rahul quit dude.. thats for sure.. Defnly Dravid is all abt hardwork and of course style.. I still remember the stylish pull shots f his in the 96 SA tour off Macmillan during his maiden 148* in Johannesburg!
why only two years da? why not 20? anyway..sachin and jayasuriya can give him company.. :)
ReplyDelete