Monday, March 12, 2012

My personal tribute to Dravid: a collection of my Dravid posts on Pavilion view & other blogs


"FB has been prompting me to switch over to its 'timeline' version of status update.
After today I have no choice...my Wall has retired today.
All that this Wall and his illustrious Big Five colleagues stood and toiled for...may those live on in the vision of genX, genY and genZ."




That was my Facebook reaction to Rahul Dravid's retirement from Test and first class cricket on 9th March 2012.


In the past this blog has had some posts on Dravid's work as captain and cricketer.


The first one I want to share is a general post that somehow applies to Dravid today. Especially the last three paragraphs. The pre-retirement thoughts of Dravid that have come out through his press-conference and also his ex-teammates' comments on the dilemma of deciding on his last tour. 
I wouldn't have contemplated Dravid to fit this post while writing it - I was making a general point and, in any case, Dravid was at his peak then. 
The original post was on Cricinfo's Different Strokes. We have now reposted it in this blog and dedicated it to Rahul Dravid.



Other "Pavilion View" posts on Dravid:


The importance of being Rahul Dravid - part one  (Jan 2006 - at the start of his captaincy tenure, before Pak'06 Test series)
Rahul Dravid too (Jan 2006 - at the start of his captaincy tenure, before Pak'06 Test series)
The delicate art of captaincy (June 2006, West Indies)
The great folly of the greats (Jan 2007, SA)
Dravid's current lean trot (Jan 2007)
Deserving luck (Mar 2007)
Future guys of Indian cricket (Jan 2008)
Dravid's column on Laxman (Nov 2008)
The Wall's papers (Dec 2008)
Highest number of catches (Apr 2009)
Holding the hands of greats (Sep 2009)
Spirited cricket (Oct 2009)
Remembering Rahul's best days - 1 (Aug 2010)
Dravid, the World Cup great? (Feb 2011)
Screenshots of Dravid's 3 hundreds at England (Aug 2011)
Dravid & the importance of pink ball cricket (Apr 2011)
Right up Wall street (Nov 2011)
Picture Perfect Wall (Nov 2011)
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And finally, to conclude this post I will re-post another old Facebook status message. It was posted some days after the proudest moment I had in quite sometime as an Indian cricket lover. I had stood up in my living room with the spectators and applauded the man when he opened the innings in the 4th England Test of 2011 facing a large English target, carried his bat in the innings and then came out 10 mins later to follow on...

Can't stop feeling proud of RD after that 4th Test...the way he took a new role and produced the one of the best 3 ever in it since India played Tests (carrying the bat as an opener)..and then came out to bat AGAIN within 10 mins to follow on. Here's an excerpt from a news link that reflects what he did that day:
"August 21: He comes to the field with his ‘aglets’ knotted and almost pasted to his shoes. He isn’t taking any chances and plays the knock of the tour. Fathers in the stands want their sons to play like him and mothers want them to behave like him. "

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