Last time when India toured the land down under, Rahul Dravid showed the cricketing world what he is made of. Personally, I knew his calibre long before this tour. Some experts hailed him as 'one of the best' during the 2002 tour to England. But again, that was not news to me. I knew it even before. When did I actually realise, how fine and meticulous cricketer he is? I do not have the answer. May be it was, when he was strugling to keep his place in the one-day side during the late ninetees. May be during the time he was playing those 'perfect shots'. May be when he was at the slips gulping those Kumble induced edges. May be at the time when he was coming to bat at 3 after just 2-3 overs. I just do not know. But what is more important to me is what I have learned from this great man during the last decade.
Why did I mention 'May be it was, when he was strugling to keep his place in the one-day side during the late ninetees?' I always have my reasons. Never in my life I have seen Rahul Dravid play foolish and non-cricketing shots.While struggling and scratching for runs this man always played the right shots and showed the right technique. He has had his basics right all through his career. What I learned is you can always fall back on your talent and beliefs during the worst of times. Even when nothing seems to be going your way, you cannot 'hit your way out' (like few other batsmen). What you do is what you feel is right and what you have been learning and practicing. Watching him coming back to form with a hard earned century is just awe-inspiring. Remember that Perth innings this January. That 93 was hard fought and to get these many runs on such a wicket and after having had such a low scoring series upto then was just class apart. Give me another indian batsman who has come back to form in Perth.
I feel the Indian Cricket team would not be at the level where it is today if you take out the Dravid centuries that was scored overseas. The confidence that the Team has today while playing abroad is due to the previous wins outside India. Now tell me how many matches has India won overseas with Dravid being out of form? With every win that I recollect, I am presented with the glimpses of Rahul Dravid timing the ball to the off-side fence, flicking to the mid wicket boundary and a short wide ball cut to the fence behind point. His innings' have been the saviour during crucial moments abroad.
Let me tell you what I admire the most in this man. I really connect with him when I think of this. When I consider Sachin Tendulkar, he was born to be a cricketer. He had all the things that a batsman should have. I mean everything. He only had two things to do. Play cricket and word hard. Yes, work hard, because even the greatest of talent will go to waste if not supplemented with hard work. By the grace of god Tendulkar did both these things and he had to be the greatest cricketer ever. When I consider Sourav Ganguly, he had to be the leader. He is a born leader. There are certain talents that people are born with. Ganguly had the qualities of a leader. It came naturally to him . I am not saying that he has no cricketing talent, 10,000 runs can't be scored in jest. I am a big fan of both Tendulkar and Ganguly, but Rahul Dravid inspires me. He could have been anybody going by his personality. A CEO of a company, a HR manager, a scientist or a writer. I do not know why. It is just the aura around him. But he chose cricket , learned the game, imbibed the qualities of a great batsmen while at nets and proved to himself, that yes, he can play cricket and be extremely good at it.
Again, it is just my opinion that he had no inborn qualities of a cricketer. He chose to devote whatever qualities he had to be a complete batsman. This really inspired me, to start from scratch and get to be the very best without being provided anything on the platter.People who know I admire Rahul Dravid must have thought that, him being made the captain would have made me happy. The truth is, no, I was not. Some people should be left to do whatever they do best. I myself relate to this thought. But again what I relate to, is the way he accepted the challenge and decided to do things in his own way.He again started to learn whatever it takes to be a good leader. That is so myself. But once again, some people should be left to do whatever they are good at. Why I relate to this aspect so much? It is becasue I know what I am good at, but on the other hand I am not afraid of trying something new and challenging, altough there remains a huge possibility of failing. I am not against the decision of dropping him for the one-day side lately. Others deserve a chance, same way as he himself was given one. There is nothing left to be proven. If one has played more than ninty tests contiously, what else is left to do. Scoring atleast one century in every test playing nation is one of the most covetted achievements. I am simply lucky to be at a time when I could see him play live on television and learn so much from his character and personality.
Now let me get back to the first line. After scoring the match winning runs at Adelaide, he said in an interview, "No one can motivate you more than you, yourself".This was the line. It assured me that I had indeed been admiring and idolizing the right person. In the end, it is YOU. All the ammunitions are with you, you are the one who is planning and you are the one who will execute the plan. People will inspire and people will discourage.They will praise and they will also bring you down. All the while, during the hard times and not-so-hard times, the only one constantly with you is YOU. Make use of this YOU. Motivate yourself rather than waiting to get motivated. I thank this person for being an inspiration for me.
Why did I mention 'May be it was, when he was strugling to keep his place in the one-day side during the late ninetees?' I always have my reasons. Never in my life I have seen Rahul Dravid play foolish and non-cricketing shots.While struggling and scratching for runs this man always played the right shots and showed the right technique. He has had his basics right all through his career. What I learned is you can always fall back on your talent and beliefs during the worst of times. Even when nothing seems to be going your way, you cannot 'hit your way out' (like few other batsmen). What you do is what you feel is right and what you have been learning and practicing. Watching him coming back to form with a hard earned century is just awe-inspiring. Remember that Perth innings this January. That 93 was hard fought and to get these many runs on such a wicket and after having had such a low scoring series upto then was just class apart. Give me another indian batsman who has come back to form in Perth.
I feel the Indian Cricket team would not be at the level where it is today if you take out the Dravid centuries that was scored overseas. The confidence that the Team has today while playing abroad is due to the previous wins outside India. Now tell me how many matches has India won overseas with Dravid being out of form? With every win that I recollect, I am presented with the glimpses of Rahul Dravid timing the ball to the off-side fence, flicking to the mid wicket boundary and a short wide ball cut to the fence behind point. His innings' have been the saviour during crucial moments abroad.
Let me tell you what I admire the most in this man. I really connect with him when I think of this. When I consider Sachin Tendulkar, he was born to be a cricketer. He had all the things that a batsman should have. I mean everything. He only had two things to do. Play cricket and word hard. Yes, work hard, because even the greatest of talent will go to waste if not supplemented with hard work. By the grace of god Tendulkar did both these things and he had to be the greatest cricketer ever. When I consider Sourav Ganguly, he had to be the leader. He is a born leader. There are certain talents that people are born with. Ganguly had the qualities of a leader. It came naturally to him . I am not saying that he has no cricketing talent, 10,000 runs can't be scored in jest. I am a big fan of both Tendulkar and Ganguly, but Rahul Dravid inspires me. He could have been anybody going by his personality. A CEO of a company, a HR manager, a scientist or a writer. I do not know why. It is just the aura around him. But he chose cricket , learned the game, imbibed the qualities of a great batsmen while at nets and proved to himself, that yes, he can play cricket and be extremely good at it.
Again, it is just my opinion that he had no inborn qualities of a cricketer. He chose to devote whatever qualities he had to be a complete batsman. This really inspired me, to start from scratch and get to be the very best without being provided anything on the platter.People who know I admire Rahul Dravid must have thought that, him being made the captain would have made me happy. The truth is, no, I was not. Some people should be left to do whatever they do best. I myself relate to this thought. But again what I relate to, is the way he accepted the challenge and decided to do things in his own way.He again started to learn whatever it takes to be a good leader. That is so myself. But once again, some people should be left to do whatever they are good at. Why I relate to this aspect so much? It is becasue I know what I am good at, but on the other hand I am not afraid of trying something new and challenging, altough there remains a huge possibility of failing. I am not against the decision of dropping him for the one-day side lately. Others deserve a chance, same way as he himself was given one. There is nothing left to be proven. If one has played more than ninty tests contiously, what else is left to do. Scoring atleast one century in every test playing nation is one of the most covetted achievements. I am simply lucky to be at a time when I could see him play live on television and learn so much from his character and personality.
Now let me get back to the first line. After scoring the match winning runs at Adelaide, he said in an interview, "No one can motivate you more than you, yourself".This was the line. It assured me that I had indeed been admiring and idolizing the right person. In the end, it is YOU. All the ammunitions are with you, you are the one who is planning and you are the one who will execute the plan. People will inspire and people will discourage.They will praise and they will also bring you down. All the while, during the hard times and not-so-hard times, the only one constantly with you is YOU. Make use of this YOU. Motivate yourself rather than waiting to get motivated. I thank this person for being an inspiration for me.
2 comments:
great article man... that's the true spirit of Rahul Dravid there... love the guy...
Dosta..... Good one !!
I didnt knew that...
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