Harsha Bhogle's article today talks about how India have ignored Rahul Dravid's landmark of reaching 12,000 runs. This is true to a large extent because of Sachin Tendulkar's 50th century and the media hype surrounding the accomplishment.Rahul Dravid epitomizes how a player (or a human being) can withstand Peer Pressure in his career as an Indian middle-order batsmen. His entry to test cricket with nineties on seaming English conditions was overshadowed by his team-mate and ex-captain's exploits (Sourav Ganguly made a splash in the same series scoring centuries). If his career had not overlapped with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, through his exploits, he would have caught more eye-balls in the press.
But, he has not felt this pressure at any time in his career nor as he mentioned anything about it. This typifies his character. If Sachin Tendulkar is revered all over for his humility despite his world-breaking records, Rahul Dravid is not too far behind. The soft-spoken batsmen is always there for his team-mates, both national and state. He is not too worried about captaincy issues, playing below Ganguly, Dhoni, Kumble for India while for his state, he is happy to play under the long-term captain selected for the season.
If Indian cricket in the era of Sachin Tendulkar was to be made as a movie, Rahul Dravid will do the job of Veeru to Sachin Tendulkar's Jai to counter the Gabbar Singhs of the World (Look at their partneship figures in test matches). We all hope and pray 'Yeh Dosti Yeh Donon Nahin Chodenge' forever.
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