Dravid in the cricket world cups

Straight from wiki, but worth a read...

Dravid was top run scorer in the 7th World Cup(1999), scoring 461 runs. He is the only Indian to score two back to back 100's in World Cup's.He scored 110 vs Kenya and followed it with a masterly 145 vs Sri Lanka in Taunton in a match where he kept wickets later.He was vice captain during 2003 World cup where India reached the final, serving his team in the dual capacity of batsman and wicket keeper to accommodate additional batsman, a move that paid huge dividends for India. Dravid was the captain during 2007 cricket world cup in West Indies, where Indian cricket team had a dismal campaign. Dravid had scores of 14 in Bangladesh match, 7* in Bermuda match and 60 in Sri Lanka match.

Dravid - a distant No2

There was a huge hullaboo around Sachin Tendulkar's 20 years in international cricket. While this is by no means a small feat, I was thinking of the No.2 player in Indian cricket - Rahul Dravid. A guy who has been on the sidelines for various reasons best not known to even him.

The selectors have been their usual self - the bunch of jokers, only they are being paid in legal terms. ie - the first set of guys who are actually paid to select an Indian team! Can you imagine that!!

Anyway, that calls for a separate topic by itself. Coming back to Dravid, I wondered how many other batsmen have been around for 15 years plus, scored over 10000 runs in tests and ODIs. Easily the best batsman in the team after Sachin. In terms of commitment, determination, concentration and skills, Dravid may even be a notch above Tendulkar.

The greatest critic of Sachin always says one thing: that he is not a finisher. Even the other day when he scored 175 runs, he ended up making another World Record; of being the best score when a team lost chasing.

Dravid for his part has played a perfect team role. He has scored when it mattered most, at a decent pace too. You cant blame the guy if he couldnt play lofted shots early in his career but he changed his game soon after.

I think we should try and preserve the good players, respect them and encourage them instead of ignoring them.

11000 test runs is a great achievement. Only 5 people have done it so far. That speaks volumes about the man's deeds.

I think we should celebrate Dravid as much as we do for Sachin, if not more.