Amidst the joy of holi celebrations came the disappointing news of Rahul Dravid's retirement. First believed to be speculation but when Tendulkar paid a fitting tribute it was sure that "the gentleman" of Indian cricket had indeed decided to call it a day.
In line with his love for perfection his conference started at the scheduled time of 12.30pm and the speech was short but clear. It filled the heart with sadness and confirmed that dravid will henceforth never be seen wearing the national jersey.
Rahul Dravid will always be remembered as the man who would not let India lose. He could stay at the crease for 5 full days and yet look fresh. He had his own effective version of the "leg glance" which always went for a boundary. And not even 9 players on the off side could stop him from hitting a four. Such was the technique that earned him the title "Mr. Perfectionist" for not even the Brits who invented the game could play so well..
He was Indian cricket's "Mr. Clean" and was hardly involved in controversies. If Dhoni is called Captain Cool, people have not observed Dravid carefully. In spite of not getting due credit for the hard work and being criticized for the smallest of errors, he braved all with a temperament a smile most people die for.
He started his career with a brilliant 95 but was overshadowed by Ganguly's 131. And since then there have been numerous occasions when he did not get the credit for laying the foundation for India's great show. Still he remained committed to the overall interest of the team. When asked to keep behind the wickets to make way for an extra batsman he happily agreed. In case the opener was unfit and a suitable replacement could not be played, he readily opened for India. No other slip fielder had a safer pair of hands and his world record of 400 odd catches is a proof of it. No other cricketer has adjusted so much for the team with each having his own mind. Such qualities made him the pride of Indian cricket.
Apart from various awards he has received some that stand out are "Wisden cricketer of the year" , "ICC cricketer of the year" and the most recent of having the honor to deliver the "Bradman Oration" which no Indian cricketer ( including "the God") has had. His contemporary Glenn Mcgrath even went on to say that Dravid would have been the only cricketer to earn a place easily in a team of Australia's greatest. But the best compliments have come from his fans when they said " arrey abhi dravid baaki hai, haarne ka sawaal hi nahi hota".
His retirement has created a vacuum and it will never be filled. Whatever said is less to pay tribute to the great man and though he may have retired from cricket, he will never retire from our hearts.
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