BANGALORE: For Rahul Dravid fans, the colour would have gone out of their lives on the day of Holi once they heard that he would not don the Indian team whites ever again.
The official announcement is slated for Friday afternoon when Dravid is to address the media along with BCCI president N Srinivasan but the decision to retire from Test cricket (he had retired from the shorter versions of the game earlier) has already been taken by the man after consultation with family and friends. With this the curtain goes down on a glittering 15-year-long international career.
Questions galore arise on the timing, naturally at that, as the man had after all failed in a mere four Tests on the disastrous Australian tour, prior to which he was the toast of the Indian team on their tour of England even as the rest of the side burned. Was he under external pressure, say from the BCCI which in the past has ingloriously pushed out many stalwarts, did the push come from within the team itself, or was it a combination of both or altogether something else?
The simple answer is none of the above. Dravid is the sort who believes in leaving when there are more people asking why as opposed to why not. Remember he gave up the Indian Test captaincy when no was asking for his head and just after he had led the side to a series win in England. Also, like with the captaincy, the call hasn't been made in haste in the middle of a series, there was a lot of deliberation, with the clincher being that with the Indian team having finished with the tours of the big three nations - South Africa, England and Australia - the extra challenge that the man thrives on, would have been missing for a while.
Now, Dravid couldn't really care if his runs came against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, he has always been hungry for more, but at 39, the plate was always half-full rather than half-empty and that is the basis of his decision. With the call having been made, Dravid is at peace and now, most ironically, he can concentrate on the upcoming IPL, normally the least of his priorities. Surely he would have expected a lot of his IPL press conferences to centre around his Test future and in one timely stroke, he has dealt with it.
Dravid may be at peace but Indian cricket surely will take some time to recover from this body blow. Things will move on but it will not be the same without the calming, assured presence of Dravid walking out at the fall of the first Indian wicket. The gentle raising of the bat, the shoulders stretched wide in celebration on reaching yet another landmark, all following his literally sweating bucketfuls, will no longer be on view.
Oppositions the world over will rejoice, bowlers will jump with joy in the knowledge that they will not have to work so hard to get a single wicket. Batsmen who had got used to their nicks being gobbled up at slip by the man with the safest pair of hands will sigh in relief, but to a man they will also agree that the game itself will be poorer for his absence. Dravid, indeed, was a great ambassador of the game, a perfect role model for the gentleman's game. Surely, there is something bigger waiting for him. Perhaps Mr Srinivasan will throw some light on that on the morrow. For now though, it's time to say goodbye and good luck to a true legend. Thank you Rahul for all the wonderful memories.
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