Rahul Dravid: The underrated legend in ODIs

A wolf who lived for the pack

Dravid even donned the gloves for the Indian team when they needed it

Dravid was always the captain’s go-to-man. Need a wicket-keeper-batsman? Bank on Dravid. Need an opener? Dravid to rescue. Stability down the order? Dravid's there! You could always bank on Dravid. Harsha Bhogle once called Dravid, “A wolf who lives for the pack”, rightly so...

The fact that Dravid never took the world by storm, is the reason why he never got the stardom he deserved. Hadn’t it been for his contributions as a Test cricketer, he would have faded in the winds as just another cricketer. He was often considered suitable for playing the second fiddle, his record partnerships with Tendulkar and Ganguly makes this claim evident enough.

Maybe his initial struggle in the format contributed to the assumption that he was only suited to Test cricket. As they say, “The first impression is the last impression”, and that judgement prevails over his later success, because for almost seven years, from 1999 to 2006 he was one of the most successful ODI cricketers in the world, and yet some say, he was a mediocre limited overs batsman.

Perhaps, he was never as gifted an athlete as Tendulkar was, he never had the flamboyance of Brian Lara; but his sheer determination, grit and impeccable work ethic made him into what he was, and that was his true gift.