Rahul Dravid: A champion match winner

Dibyasundar Nayak @ SportsKeeda

Another match India won after a classy innings by Rahul Dravid. A champion match winner whose batting career is full with instances of trials and tribulations, Rahul Dravid has carved his own name even if he had to bat in the same era which saw genius Sachin Tendulkar. Some even rate Rahul above Sachin when it comes to match winning capabilities. We won’t go into those comparison stuff. After 15 years of constant service, what matters is that Dravid is still playing, scoring runs, piling centuries and above all winning matches for India. A batsman who made batting an art, Rahul is still the idol of thousands of budding cricketers all over the country. The new age fast forward cricket fans may not prefer the arty batting which is Rahul’s forte, but the importance of his skills and abilities is noticed when he single handedly wins matches for the team like he did the other day in the test match against the west indies. Someone pointed it very correctly, “His superb innings at Sabina Park, Jamaica is the testimony to his batting genius. He unleashed a majestic innings of 112, when the next highest individual score was just 28.”

The batting department already depleted because of injury and rest of the experts, Rahul had to score well as well as steer the young batsmen along with him. He did that very well and helped the team to post enough on the board to win the match convincingly at the end. A batsman like him who always loves and enjoys challenges, this was nothing new. After all, he has been doing this for last 15 years of his life reminding everyone why he is called the ‘great wall of India’.

India’s most reliable batsman has covered a long path from a simple, young batsman in 1996 to a mature, solid batting mainstay of India in 2011. In the 15 year long career, he has captained the team India, has seen ups and downs of the team and has bettered his own game. Evolving his own style of playing with times has been the reason behind his successful career. Padma shri, Wisden player of the year, ICC player of the year and ICC Test player of the year, 3 man of the series and 11 man of the match in tests and 14 man of the matches in ODIs are a few awards that came during his career acknowledging his contributions to cricket. Dravid has more than 10000 runs in each format of the game.

A fascinating aspect of Dravid’s career has been his contributions to team’s victories. The list of Dravid’s 32 centuries show that whenever Rahul scored a century India either won or drew that match (except one match vs Zimbabwe back in 1998). No wonder West Indies captain Darren Sammy couldn’t sleep for one night after he dropped Dravid on 6 and Rahul capitalized on the chance to go on scoring a century in the last match in Jamaica.

Rahul Dravid’s 32 centuries

Score	Vs Country	Innings	Venue	Year	Result          (for India)
148	South Africa	1st	Johannesburg	1997	Draw
118	Zimbabwe	2nd	Harare	1998	Loss
190	New Zealand	2nd	Hamilton	1999	Draw
103*	New Zealand	4th	Hamilton	1999	Draw
107	Sri Lanka	1st	Colombo	1999	Draw
144	New Zealand	3rd	Chandigarh	1999	Draw
200*	Zimbabwe	2nd	Delhi	2000	Win
162	Zimbabwe	2nd	Nagpur	2000	Win
180	Australia	3rd	Kolkata	2001	Win
144*	West Indies	2nd	Guyana	2002	Draw
115	England	3rd	Nottingham	2002	Draw
148	England	1st	Leeds	2002	Win
217	England	2nd	London	2002	Draw
100*	West Indies	1st	Bombay	2002	Win
222	New Zealand	1st	Ahmadabad	2003	Draw
233	Australia	2nd	Adelaide	2003	Win
270	Pakistan	2nd	Rawalpindi	2004	Win
160	Bangladesh	1st	Chittagong	2004	Win
110	Pakistan	1st	Kolkata	2005	Win
135	Pakistan	3rd	Kolkata	2005	Win
127	Pakistan	2nd	Lahore	2006	Draw
103	Pakistan	2nd	Faisalabad	2006	Draw
146	West Indies	1st	St. Lucia	2006	Draw
129	Bangladesh	1st	Mirpur	2007	Win
111	South Africa	2nd	Chennai	2008	Draw
136	England	1st	Chandigarh	2008	Draw
177	Sri Lanka	1st	Ahmadabad	2009	Draw
144	Sri Lanka	1st	Kanpur	2009	Win
111*	Bangladesh	2nd	Dhaka	2010	Win
104	New Zealand	1st	Ahmadabad	2010	Draw
191	New Zealand	2nd	Nagpur	2010	Win
112	West Indies	3rd	Jamaica	2011	Win

Soft spoken and a true gentleman, Rahul Dravid has always made India proud with not just on-field performances but off-field decent behavior. Being 38, he may not play more than one and a half year, but he will always remain a legend of the game of cricket. His name will always be regarded synonymous to batting techniques. His domination over the bowlers will always be remembered with a feeling of awe.

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