Kunal Pradhan in The Indian Express:
“At a Thai restaurant in Islamabad, after the first day’s play in the final Test in 2004, Rahul Dravid politely declined to stay for dessert, saying he needed to sleep because he had to bat the “whole day tomorrow”.
“Not early, not in the morning; the whole day.
“It led to a few involuntary sniggers at the dinner table, but Dravid had chosen his words carefully. Ten not out overnight, he was unbeaten on 134 when stumps were drawn the following evening. And then, for good measure, he batted almost the whole of the next day as well, finishing on a career-best 270. It wasn’t the most attractive knock, and not nearly his most fluent — in fact, at 12 hours and 20 minutes it was the longest innings by an Indian player ever — but Dravid had ensured, almost single-handedly, that India won their first Test series in Pakistan.”
Read the full article: Higher than The Wall
Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Should Rahul Dravid retire?
churumuri 
Trust only Dravid to play like that and save win a match for India. Compared to the hype and euphoria about Sachin’s 20yrs existence, Dravid’s excellent batting or his 11000 runs just went by. Wonder where the so-called expert cricket blabbers – Sunil, Shastri, harsha were.
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“In each of India’s 10 victories abroad since 2000, In 17 innings, Dravid has 1,248 runs at an average of 83.2, including three hundreds and six 50s.” – stunning!
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Kumble is right. Players from Mumbai have to prove everybody right and players from Bangalore have to prove everybody wrong.
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This afternoon in London where I am on a short-term work visit, the gloomy weather gave way to some sunshine and I couldn’t but resist going off to the Lord’s to take a tour of the Home of Cricket. And the knowledgeable guide mentioned Dravid’s name with a certain amount of respect. Taking us into the grand committee room, he said this is where the likes of Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh and Shaun Pollock have been meeting to discuss ways of preserving the primacy of Test cricket. The other Indian on the committee is his Karnataka teammate Anil Kumble, another great ambassador of the game’s five-day version.
In the dressing rooms on the first floor of the pavilion, there is a list of players who have scored hundreds at the hallowed ground. Dravid unfortunately doesn’t figure here. He fell just five short. What an achievement that would have been. Remember that was his debut. That match was Saurav Ganguly’s debut as well but he went on to make the grade.
Somebody here said Dravid’s 11000 didn’t quite get the Shastris and the Gavaskars excited. It doesn’t matter. As somebody wrote on the Guardian sports blog after his Ahmedabad classic, he may only be valued once he has gone.
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>>”“In each of India’s 10 victories abroad since 2000, In 17 innings, Dravid has 1,248 runs at an average of 83.2, including three hundreds and six 50s.” – stunning!”
Stunning as it may be, it pales in comparison to Tendulkar’s record over a span of 20 years. For much of Tendulkar’s career (till Ganguly took over and turned things around somewhat), the Indian team was sadly “Tendu, ten don’t” as the Amul ad put it and I don’t see any reason to hold that against him.
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Rahul is arguably the best test player of this generation. His role in the shorter version of the game too has been great though a question mark has been raised at times. It is a pity that a player of his class has not gotten the credit he richly deserves.
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Nice anecdote..
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A blog on Rahul Dravid in ‘ Guardian ‘.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/nov/18/rahul-dravid-india-sri-lanka
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Agree with sisya.
Dravid is a gem of a person on and off the field. No two ways about it. But that does not have to come at the cost of belittling Sachin’s tremendous success..
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@no gravitas: Your comment gives me goosebumps. At Lord’s, eh?
Dravid has always been respected more outside of India, than in his country. Remember Martin Crowe commenting about that often during India’s tour of New Zealand. Here, we can’t stop gushing about Tendulkar’s 20 years of cricket. Period.
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Enough of this donkey twaddle about the Wall and Watching the Paint Dry on the Wall shit! Dravid has been a dogged donkey who scores fluently on bone-dry pitches. Kulla does something even better–he racks up impressive centuries on the same pitches. Together, the duo have managed to keep many Indians enslaved in appreciating mediocrity or in celebration of mediocrity.
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DB
Just curious to know. Who in your opinion are excellent as opposed to mediocre cravid, tendulkar and other indian crickteres ?
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DB,
At least Dravid is very very good looking ;)
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Message,
There are many: Vishy, Kapil Dev, Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd…
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DB
vishy = avg player who was hyped as “stylish” ..accomplished little
kapil dev = an aerage bowler who was retained in the team only to complete a useless world record
viv richards = just like virendra sehwag..adidre adDa..illa andre illa
brian lara = an ok batsman who was surrounded by useless cricketers..couple of test matches he won for his country
clive llyod = the lineup won matches for windies…
Note
See, if you decide to nitpick you can pretty much do to anyone…
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I think DB and Sandesh both have never played cricket to commnet on great cricketers.Spend half day on the ground !
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DB this one is for you.
When you look at the numbers in top twenty highest overall partnership runs by a pair Dravid’s name figures three times with many others figuring twice with averages of 53,54 and 51. Each of these partnerships with Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly respectively. Speaks for his versatility I suppose.
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sarvagna
I was just commenting on DB summarily dismissing tendulkar, dravid and others. Please read the last line again. I have utmost respect to all the cricketers whom I’m seen to be ridiculing!
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