Written by: Will Davies
Original Article Link Here
Rahul Dravid once again proved his worth for Indian cricket this week, scoring a remarkable 32nd Test century for his country as many of his teammates floundered in the first of a three-match series in the Caribbean.
India beat the West Indies by 63 runs at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. It was a relatively comfortable victory courtesy of Dravid’s second-innings score of 112. India’s next top scorer in that innings was No.10 Amit Mishra, hardly in the team for his batting, who notched up 28 runs as the team stuttered to a total of 252.
Dravid celebrated his century the way he has gone about his 15-year career – in an understated, calm manner. The single he scored to bring up his 100 was ungainly, but it was enough and prompted his teammates in the pavilion to uniformly rise to applaud and show their respect for the 38-year old as he saluted them with his bat.
Dravid, known by fans as “The Wall,” is almost a dying breed in the modern world of cricket. As the sport becomes increasingly commercialized along with the irrepressible rush of shorter formats, in particular the Twenty20 Indian Premier League, the unassuming Dravid is most comfortable during Test matches, cutting a dash out on the wicket.
While other players have invented a whole new armoury of shots, like Virender Sehwag’s “Upar Cut” and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s “Helicopter”, Dravid has followed a more patient, classical and elegant approach. He may have missed the cut for India’s World Cup-winning squad, but he still had the skills to court a buyer for the 2011 IPL, when he played for the Rajasthan Royals.
Test cricket is Dravid’s home though and he has excelled there, as his 32 centuries and 12,215 career runs prove. His performance this week in Jamaica helped him return to the top 20 in the Reliance International Cricket Council player rankings for Test batsmen.
In a statement Friday, the ICC said Dravid – who won the ICC Cricketer and Test Player of the Year awards in 2004 – had climbed nine places up the Test batting rankings to 20th position, his best spot since November 2010.
South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, another elder statesman of the sport, is the top-ranked Test batsman and Sachin Tendulkar is in second place.
Tendulkar will go down in history as India’s best player. Dravid doesn’t quite occupy the same stratosphere as the Little Master, but he certainly deserves to be recognized as one of the best batsmen India has ever produced.
Original Article Link Here
Rahul Dravid once again proved his worth for Indian cricket this week, scoring a remarkable 32nd Test century for his country as many of his teammates floundered in the first of a three-match series in the Caribbean.
India beat the West Indies by 63 runs at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. It was a relatively comfortable victory courtesy of Dravid’s second-innings score of 112. India’s next top scorer in that innings was No.10 Amit Mishra, hardly in the team for his batting, who notched up 28 runs as the team stuttered to a total of 252.
Dravid celebrated his century the way he has gone about his 15-year career – in an understated, calm manner. The single he scored to bring up his 100 was ungainly, but it was enough and prompted his teammates in the pavilion to uniformly rise to applaud and show their respect for the 38-year old as he saluted them with his bat.
While other players have invented a whole new armoury of shots, like Virender Sehwag’s “Upar Cut” and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s “Helicopter”, Dravid has followed a more patient, classical and elegant approach. He may have missed the cut for India’s World Cup-winning squad, but he still had the skills to court a buyer for the 2011 IPL, when he played for the Rajasthan Royals.
Test cricket is Dravid’s home though and he has excelled there, as his 32 centuries and 12,215 career runs prove. His performance this week in Jamaica helped him return to the top 20 in the Reliance International Cricket Council player rankings for Test batsmen.
In a statement Friday, the ICC said Dravid – who won the ICC Cricketer and Test Player of the Year awards in 2004 – had climbed nine places up the Test batting rankings to 20th position, his best spot since November 2010.
South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, another elder statesman of the sport, is the top-ranked Test batsman and Sachin Tendulkar is in second place.
Tendulkar will go down in history as India’s best player. Dravid doesn’t quite occupy the same stratosphere as the Little Master, but he certainly deserves to be recognized as one of the best batsmen India has ever produced.
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