Rahul Dravid to retire?

Rahul Dravid’s spectacular international career may have come to an end on Friday at the Adelaide Oval against Australia. The 39-year-old veteran batsman is likely to announce his retirement shortly. Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest batsmen of the modern era, is believed to have conveyed to some of his teammates that he has decided to hang up his boots.

In the current series in which India is heading towards yet another overseas white-wash, Dravid has failed miserably. He scored only 194 runs at 24.25, a sharp contrast to his form in England where he scored three hundreds in difficult conditions. Further, the mode of dismissals has not helped his cause. He has been out bowled six times in his last eight innings in Australia.

Dravid, however, has already announced his retirement from one-day cricket and Twenty20. Nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his immaculate defence, he is the second highest run-getter in Test history with 13,288 runs, behind only Sachin Tendulkar. He has 36 Test centuries with a highest score of 270 and an average of 52.31.

When Rahul Dravid’s mother Pushpa Dravid was contacted , she said that he had not mentioned about retirement to any of the family members including his wife, when he had called from Australia late friday evening. Another close aid to Dravid said, “He expressed his desire to play for another one year atleast , there are a few test tours coming up after IPL and Rahul is keen on playing them. Talks about his retirement is just speculation.”

Dravid, however, remained unavailable for comment.

Incidentally, Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the Indian senior batsmen today saying that it’s time that the seniors vacate their spots for the future generation. He also said that the Indian batsmen had some sort of a “defeatist attitude” hanging around, even the most experienced players having been affected by it.

There has been immense pressure from a few media sections as well , so a decision on their future from the “Holy Trinity” of Indian cricket was on the cards.

But should it have been Dravid?