Much debate has ensued on how and when the three giants of modern Indian cricket – Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman should retire. The word alone has caused uproar every time it is mentioned in the context of the three stalwarts. Experts and analysts have alternately criticized the trio for not retiring by now and stating that there are no suitable replacements and hence they should continue as long as they felt like playing.
As of tomorrow though, the debate on Dravid’s retirement will draw to a close – there is almost universal agreement that he will announce his retirement in the press conference tomorrow.
There can be no doubt in any cricket lovers mind (Indian fan or not) that Dravid ranks as one of the greatest players to grace the game. A thinker, a technician, an apprentice always striving for betterment and his own biggest critic, Dravid held the Indian middle order together through the golden years of Indian cricket.
There are only a handful of retired players in the annals of Indian cricket who are in Dravid’s league – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble. But for all their greatness, not all of them went to the great retirement village in style.
Kapil’s final years were probably the worst of the lot – his best years were well in his past while he soldered on in his quest to get to the magic landmark of 434 wickets. The reality was that he got greedy and no one in the Indian camp had the cojones to ask him to step down.
Anil Kumble retired on a higher note – though he was losing his knack of ripping the heart out of batting lineups, he was a highly respected bowler till the end of his illustrious career.
Of the foursome (Dravid Included) Gavaskar’s retirement probably came at the highest point - at least on a personal note. While India lost the last test of the series, his knock of 96 in that test will always be regarded as one of the finest innings of his career.
There will always be a school of thought that Dravid should have retired earlier but given his extraordinary success in England, he must have harbored thoughts of ending his career on a high with a victory in Australia. Alas, the opposite was the case and Dravid’s Aussie tour ended in ignominy.
I wonder why these masters of the game – with their great cricketing brains and instinctive judgment of a cricket situation could never quite judge how and when to quit the game on a high.
Regardless of the timing of Dravid’s retirement, here’s wishing the best to the “Wall” – the likes of which we may never see again. I will miss that trademark cover drive for a long long time…
