Five gentlemen cricketers in recent times

If there was any one representative from the world of cricket who would be chosen to bat for my life, it is the former India skipper and batting mainstay Rahul Sharad Dravid, long known to his fans as The Wall. Fiercely focused on the field, determined to weather the tough conditions out in the middle, perspiration dripping heavily from his brows, India’s No.3 batsman in Test cricket bailed out the side many times in the five-day version of the game.

Off the field, Dravid is remarkably shy, but carrying himself with a good deal of grace and humility. The respect he has earned is not merely due to his cricketing exploits alone; opponents have praised him for carrying the same conduct on to the field and remaining modest despite being a run-scoring colossus in the international cricketing arena. It, therefore, came as no surprise when he was selected to deliver the ninth Bradman Oration at Canberra in December 2011, becoming the first non-Australian cricketer to do so.

Stoic, calm, dignified and unruffled even during the worst of conditions (such as the recent spot-fixing scandal which robbed his team Rajasthan Royals of key players), Dravid, like state-mate Anil Kumble, is forever going to be the crisis man for his team. Cricket has been all the richer for a person of his calibre.