And then there was Rahul Dravid

There have been many batsmen in India and the world who with their cricket book shorts and their flamboyance have made a mark on world cricket ; be it Bradman, richards, gavaskar, border, tendulkar, lara, ponting and there are batsmen whose flamboyance has formed a potent mixture with their elegance and they too have made a mark like Laxman, Ganguly , jayawardene or Sangakkara and then there is a guy called RAHUL DRAVID one of its kind.

Dravid does not belong to the two kinds mentioned above , he on the other hand has evolved his own game playing method. First things first his technique is flawless , temperament superb and commitment to the game and team unmatchable. He grinds his opponents and makes the job easier for the batsman at the other end. Imagine plight of bowler like Lee or Akhtar who ran more than 20 yards to bowl every time only to meet the solid defence of dravid and this irritated the bowler so much that they started trying too many things and in result lost the control over the ball. Such was his game.India started winning overseas coz a guy like Dravid was always there to hold one end and allowed guys like Sehwag,Sachin,Saurav and Laxman too play their natural game And whenever he failed the Indians never got going and because of all this He was nicknamed 'THE WALL'. There were criticism that his style of play doesn't suit shorter formats of game but he proved his critics wrong by amassing more than 10000 one day runs at an healthy average of 39.44. His performance were instrumental in India's road to final in world cup 2003 and it was under his captaincy that India made a record of winning 17 successful matches while batting second. This speaks volume of his contributions.

It is said that he never got the limelight he deserved , this may be true because some of his best innings have been overshadowed by his peers; when he made a well compiled 180 against aussies in kolkata his partner Laxman made 281. Against Sri lanka in world cup 1999 his 145 were not the talk of the town because Ganguly made 183 and same was the story when his 153 were surpassed by 186 by tendulkar against New zealand , but dravid was happy playing in shadow of his peers playing for the team. The one incident when he got the limelight was when he single handedly got Australia out of the game in Adelaide but such incidents are very few.

There have been lows as well for him such as early first round exit of India in world cup 2007 under His captaincy, his spat with team mate Saurav Ganguly and his loss of form from 2009-2010 but such incidents cannot deny his contribution to Indian cricket and world cricket.

he has been an ambassador for the game and role model for youngsters like me.

this incident was at the time of 2003 world cup. My friend told me the batting order India must follow. He said " India must open with sachin and ganguly and if sachin gets out send in sehwag and if ganguly gets out send in Mongia(dinesh mongia).Then if sehwag gets out send in Kaif or if mongia gets out send in Yuvraj, this is to maintain left/right combination."

I asked what about Dravid???

He simply replied"he is the wall so whenever the scoreline reads 23-2 or 33-3 we'll forget the left/right combination and send him in to hold one end and anchor the innings."

salute to a legend known as Rahul Dravid or THE WALL.

BIG MATCH

Big picture:Australia,India and SCG.Together these three produced the most controversial test seen in the recent times.But the scenario has changed now.Monkeygate,umpiring blunders have become a part of history now..Two key figures Andrew Symonds(busy in BIGG BOSS and BIG BASH) and Harbhajan Singh(no more best Indian spinner) are missing and the teams are in much cordial relationship now.Its also 100th test match to be played at Sydney.Hope this match will also be a thriller like the previous one played between these two teams at this very ground(of course minus controversies)

What to watch for:The Pitch;everyone after the Indian batting collapse in Melbourne wants to see how the pitch behaves, fast and bouncy than India have their task cutout but such pitches could backfire as the hosts have four scores of less than 100 in last few months playing on such pitches.

Will he or won't he;big question is SCG the ground where the 100th century will come,look out for answers tomorrow.

Key Clashes: Virendra Sehwag vs James pattinson-this could well decide the course of match.if sehwag sees through new ball in his signature style its India's upper hand if he won't Pattinson would break the back of Indian batting with new ball.

Zaheer Khan vs Ponting/Hussey- he is fit,he is back and he can destroy any batting line-up and thats why the two oldies are important for Australian campaign.

Expected Line-up:India- Dhoni will field the same side as in melbourne only change could be Rohit Sharma replacing Virat Kohli.

Australia-no need for the Aussies to change the line up but if the pitch suits for fast bowling expect them to field Ryan Harris in place of Nathan Lyon.

Wait for tomorrow , the game would be exciting.