‘THE WALL’ in white will now stand tall once again as ‘THE WALL’ in blue

A state of desperation prompted the selectors to go back knocking  at Dravid’s door……

 By SHUVAIT KOUL

Time has a sense and supremacy of its own. Cyclic, in nature, it does what it knows the best that is to bring everything to the ground state after a series of aerial theatrics. The analogy can be very meticulously drawn to the tale of arguably the Indian cricket’s ‘best ever big stage player’- Rahul Dravid.

While most of us were taken to a pleasantly baffling surprise over the inclusion of ‘THE WALL’ in the ODI squad for the forthcoming one day series in England yet his declaration of retiring from the both the ODI and  T20 versions of the game after the England series shows his incredible maturity and sagacity both from a cricketing and realistic point of view.

Given that his bat has been on song when all other batters around him have been falling like a house of cards, this definitely is a high point in his illustrious career when he should hang his boots from the two shorter formats of the game.

Dravid has been in business for long now to understand that this is a desperate move by the selection committee to do some facing after India’s disastrous show so far on the English soil and his spot in the team even if he puts up a spectacular show may not be guaranteed after the tour is over. 

Being the world champions, the Indian team has that extra burden on its shoulders to salvage its ‘World Champion tag’ and who else’s door could the selectors have knocked but Dravid’s- debatably India’s best ‘Crisis Man’ for almost two decades now.

He obviously must be a having a few butterflies in his stomach given that he will be returning to the limited overs format after a long hiatus of almost 23 months  but his impeccable tenacity and determination to perform even at the age 38 will calm any few nerves he might be having.

He has shown the same in the first two tests amidst India’s dismal performance. Overshadowing even the likes of the great Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid has put all the criticisms to rest and shown that his indispensability in the Indian team when it comes to playing under pressure in hostile conditions is undisputed.

It’s been a long wait to see the old warhorse back in the blue jersey and what better timing than this when India needs its most dependable batsman back in action. All one can wish for is a Dravid magic in his farewell series.