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.