SK Flashback: Rahul Dravid walks into the sunset

A legend who made others look good

Dravid shared memorable partnerships with VVS Laxman

Listening to him that day, a person who did not know of Dravid’s achievements would have thought that he was just another state-level cricketer bidding goodbye. Referring to his teammates, he said, “Many of my teammates have become legends, not just in India but in the wider cricketing world.”

Now what Dravid missed to add was that he himself was a legend. He played in an era that is considered a golden era in Indian cricket and he was a central figure in making it special. While it is true that his teammates like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman, among others, were legends, but more often than not he was the batsman giving them company during their best knocks.

Be it Kolkata in 2001 or Lahore in 2006, he was always there; guarding one end while the other legends did the hitting. His reassuring presence at the non-striker's end gave his fellow Indian batsmen the freedom to play their natural attacking game.