Rebirth of Rahul Dravid.
Rahul Dravid made his debut for India in 1996. He has had an outstanding career as far as Test Match career is concerned. Rahul Dravid like Sachin Tendulkar is one of those greats in the game who have attained legendary status very earlier in their career. Rahul Dravid has been reborn not once, but twice as a cricketer.
First Rebirth of Rahul Dravid as wicket weekeper batsman in One Dayers:- Rahul Dravid was very consistent as a one day player. In fact his consistency in one dyaers is nothing strange as it is an extension of his remarkable consistency in Tests. However Rahul Dravid though was steady and consistent lacked the skills to improvise especially when runs were hard to come and on difficult pitches. Rahul Dravid also lacked the ability to change gears as and when the situation demands and that one was huge drawback as most batsman in international cricket have this uncanny ability to change gears in an innings. In fact batsman with much lesser talent than Dravid were able to improvise or change gears in matches. In this situation it was difficult for Rahul Dravid to retain his place in the team. Sourav Ganguly shared a very good bond with Rahul Dravid, a bond of admiration and respect but at the same time Sourav Ganguly the then captain was finding it difficult to accommodate Rahul Dravid. Sourav Gangualy who had the reputation of being a tough masker and known for leading from the front, that Rahul Dravid had to give more value to the team in terms of utility. It was Sourav Ganguly the then captain who coaxed a reluctant Dravid to keep wickets so that the team gets an additional option to fit in a additional bowler or a batsman as per the pitch conditions. It was in 1999 under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy that Rahul Dravid started keeping wickets and though he was always a reluctant keeper gave the team an additional bowling or batting option for 5 years which was instrumental in not only retaining his place but also India winning matches in one dayers under Sourav Ganguly captaincy. With the advent of Mahendra Singh Dhoni into India team, Rahul Dravid was not required to keep wickets as he was a exceptional attacking batsman who was tremendously consistent and a brilliant keeper. In Dhoni the team got a specialist batsman cum specialist keeper.
Second Rebirth of Rahul Dravid of scoring runs at a fast pace in Test Matches:- Mahendra Singh Dhoni is similar to Sourav Ganguly in many respects. He also likes to be aggressive though he does not show his emotions like Sourav Ganguly. Dhoni being a real team man gives a lot to the team and expects a lot from team and invariably gets it from his team mates. There is no doubt that in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, M S Dhoni has two batsman that any captain in the world craves for. However the cause of worry for Dhoni was Rahul Dravids strike rate of 42.21 per 100 balls a cause for concern, a strike rate which translates to the fact that Dravid scores at the rate of 2.4 to 2.5 runs per over which effectively means Dravid consumes more deliveries to get runs than any other batsman and that affects the team as the bowlers get that many deliveries less in the match to dismiss the opposition twice to win a Test Match. Rahul Dravid in all probability after being spoken to by the skipper, was a revelation in the ongoing Test Series against Sri Lanka carting bowlers like Muralidharan all over the park. Rahul Dravid while being amazingly consistent with the bat having scored 359 runs so far in the series got those runs at a rate of 64.91 which is exceptional by any standards. India failed to win the first test and there is no guarantee that Indians are going to win the second test, but Rahul Dravids strike rate has ensured that Indians have a chance to win the Test and Series.
Millions of Indian cricket fans will have taken immense pride in seeing Rahul Dravids brilliant countering attacking knocks in the ongoing Test Series against Sri Lankans.
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