Ye DEEWAR Nahi Giregi- RAHUL DRAVID THE WALL !!!

            523rd BLOG POST -->>

       India has only two religions which connect people of different castes and religions together as all other so-called-religions just divide the Indians. These two religions of India are- Bollywood and Cricket. Whenever a movie releases, everyone runs towards Multiplexes and Single-screen theaters and sit with 1000s of people under the same roof without caring if a Hindu is sitting besides him or a Muslim. The same applies with Cricket too. When a person is in the stadium, he doesn't care if he is sitting with a person from a religion which he hates the most. The only craze is that my team is playing and I want it to win. So, it is always expected from our Cricketers to hit the ball all around the field to energize the stadium or even if it is impossible for him, at least be on ground and keep running singles to cease the Fall-Of-Wickets. And, whenever a favorite cricketer struggles to score runs or if he gets out early, people abuse him without realizing that just a second before, he was seeing him as a God's messenger for his Country's Cricket team. :-) This is the Climax of almost every match. Some or the another cricketer is being abused. 


            One player on which the whole country relies is Sachin Tendulkar. But, one player who has always stood almost every time whenever India needed a Super-hero to lead the team is RAHUL DRAVID. I have seen people abusing Sachin Tendulkar because they expect a lot from him but I have never seen people abusing Rahul Dravid. Even when he scores a miser runs, people excuse him for that lackadaisical and wait for the next match to see him showing his class once again. People trust Rahul Dravid when the greatest cricketer of the world- Sachin Tendulkar fails. People know that Rahul Dravid is not greedy for runs. He knows how to take the match till the last ball when almost all the  batsmen have returned to the pavilion. He knows how to place the ball, how to block the ball and save it from entering into the wickets, or touching his pads or getting caught in the slips. He knows how to take Singles and score the required runs in the limited number of balls. He never shows aggression. Right from the first ball to the last ball, Rahul Dravid play as calmly as possible. For a moment, the spectators start feeling that this guy has been programmed to score Singles and play till the last ball without getting bowled out or getting caught. :-) 


            Everyone of us remember the England series. The whole media talked only about Cricket's God's expected 100th 100 at Lords stadium. No one even thought that there are other 10 players too who might score Century and get their name listed in the Honour's Board who scored a Ton at Lords stadium. On the day, Sachin Tendulkar failed to score the ton and Rahul Dravid came out as a surprise to everyone. He scored a TON quite easily in his own style of play. He rejoiced his TON by punching his fist in the air. Every Indian twinkled their eyes after seeing the majestic and kingly performance of Rahul Dravid. Now, people glued their eyes on Rahul Dravid throughout the series as they wanted more from him. And the man never stopped. He kept scoring runs in every innings of every match and got the attention of people. Every Indian batsman disappointed in the England series and we lost by 4-0 but people were happy to see this WALL getting more stronger than before. Later, Rahul Dravid crossed 13,000 runs in Test Cricket and he is also the 2nd highest Test run-scorer in the world next to Sachin Tendulkar. What more pride can we have than seeing our Indian batsmen at the Top Two spots in the Test Cricket? I just can't imagine anything better than this.


             Sachin Tendulkar debuted in Test Cricket in 1989 while Rahul Dravid entered in 1996 and the difference between both the Super-class players is not much. Rahul has played far less innings than Sachin in Tests but he is just 2,000 (approx) runs behind than him and just 15 Centuries back. What more do you expect from an Indian Cricketer if its not Tendulkar? :-) People talk about Sachin Tendulkar's records but I would like to mention some of the Rahul Dravid's record which will give you an electric shock :-) 

1. Most number of catches in Test Cricket. :-)
2. Involved in 80 century partnerships with 18 different partners. :-)
3. Involved in 18 century partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar which is a World-record. :-)
4. Second International-player to score more than 13,000 runs after Sachin Tendulkar. :-)
5. First non-Australian cricketer to address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra. :-)
6. Dravid was top scorer in the 7th World Cup (1999), scoring 461 runs.
7. He is the only Indian to score two back to back centuries at the World Cup. He scored 110 vs Kenya and followed it with a masterly 145 against Sri Lanka in Taunton, in a match where he kept wickets.
8. He is the first and only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations.
9. Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record.
10. He also holds the record for the greatest number of innings since debut before being dismissed for a duck.
11. Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).
12. Dravid is also one of the two batsmen to score 10,000 runs at a single batting position.
13. He has played 93 consecutive five day test matches for India.
14. The first player to score 10000-run at No.3 position
15. His highest knock of 270 runs is the longest innings played by an Indian batsmen in terms of minute.
16. He holds a record for not being dismissed on a duck for 120 innings consecutive one-day matches.

        This is all I have to say about this less-talked Legend of the Cricket World. Today, he is celebrating his birthday. Many Many Happy Returns of the Day to you, Mr. WALL. We hope that you will blow off Australia in upcoming 2 test matches against them. :-) 

         Love you like anything.

         Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU