He was was not destined to be a champion but he was determined to be one - He is the perfectionist.
In India cricket is a religion, and Sachin is the "God of cricket". Cricket has spread to the roots and nerves of almost every Indian town and villages alike. I was 10 years old when I came to know the game of cricket. Our villagers never missed the Indian games. It was the age of Doordarshan, and everybody would gather at one place to watch the games.
For many, the game of cricket was nothing but Sachin. I have never heard them addressing Sachin by his name. They would always prefer calling him as the "Tiger" or the "Master Blaster”. Once Sachin gets out, many of them would stop watching the game. Sachin was like a thunderstorm, he would open the batting and destroy opponents. Once he is out, rest of the soldiers in the Indian side would evade like the winds fading away after a thunderstorm. But things changed, and they changed for the good of Indian cricket.
It was June 20, 1996. A game of test was played between India and England at the Lords cricket ground. Two legends made their debut. Saurav Ganguly went on to score a maiden hundred, and the other elegant 95 runs were added to the board by none other than Rahul Dravid, marking the birth of the perfectionist of Indian cricket. Dravid’ s bad luck with fame started in his debut match and continued until his retirement but he made sure that he never played for the fame and conducted himself in a way that every other cricketer would respect him and his game.
It was in the year 2000 when Indian cricket was plagued by the match-fixing scandal. People had lost all of their hopes on Indian cricket. Ganguly took over as the captain, Dravid was made the vice-captain, and the duo led India to a successful campaign in the one-day as well as in the Test format. If Sachin was a thunderstorm who would destroy the opponents, Dravid was the fortress who would never allow anyone to enter the safety walls of the Indian cricket's kingdom. At times, when Master blaster failed, the wall stood firm and strong.Eventually, Dravid proved everyone wrong that he cannot score runs in one day by piling up of huge runs in the 1999 world cup by scoring 461 runs at an average of 85 runs per match and went on to become the top scorer of the tournament. His records are great and even
Eventually, Dravid proved everyone wrong that he cannot score runs in the one-day format by piling up huge runs in the 1999 World Cup by scoring 461 runs at an average of 85 runs per match and went on to become the top scorer of the tournament. His records are better than many of the best players but he always remained in the shadow. Probably, he never liked being in the limelight like cricketers of the current generation. If Sachin is a tiger, then Dravid is the Bull, the “bull beneath the earth”.
Dravid is a person who is capable of enduring the toughest of times. He never displayed a sense of being sidelined in a team of superstars. He is a perfectionist who crafted his game so well that the execution of his game was never off by an inch. He has set a path for everyone to follow. Dravid was never destined to become a champion but he was determined to become a champion. Time and again he has proved to be the most honest, and a man full of grace.
When there were talks of him being the coach of the national cricket team, he silently responded saying that, he needs to learn a lot before he takes up such a huge responsibility. He took the job of India's U-19 coach and the results are there for everyone to see. I can quote another instance when he proved that he is the gentleman everyone wants to be. Recently, the Bangalore University offered him an honorary doctorate but Dravid politely rejected it saying he would earn it by doing research in the field of sports.
Rahul Dravid is a phenomenon, he is not easy neither he is complex. He is like an ocean of knowledge, and his life is a lesson for everyone to follow. "If I packed only two sets of informal clothes, he would rotate them through an entire tour and not think about it. He doesn't care for gadgets and barely registers brands of watches, cologne or cars. But if the weight of his bat is off by a gram, he would notice it in an instant and get the problem fixed," Vijeta Dravid (Wife of Rahul Dravid) had once said.