Dravid’s contribution can’t be quantified

He may not give you a quick start, but he will surely make his innings count in terms of time spent at the crease. You need such players in the team, and he was the best man for the job. Others in the team played around him, while Rahul batted as the situation demanded. It wasn’t that he couldn’t bat quickly, he just made sure that he batted according to the situation. His Test innings are of course more famous, but I still fondly remember one ODI innings that he played in 2007 at Bristol where he scored a 90 that came off 60-odd balls. It wasn’t a surprise to any of us, and even in the past, he scored a terrific 50 against NZ.

He is the perfect team man; when he was asked to keep wickets we all knew that he will do well because he was initially a wicketkeeper. It later helped him, and came as a big help to all of us in the Indian team during the 2003 World Cup. He got better by the day during that campaign, and also managed to score quick runs with the bat.

For a long time, not many people believed Dravid could be a successful one-day cricketer. But he has gone on and on, unfazed by criticism and having supreme confidence in his abilities. He is not someone who will go out and tonk sixes at will but he gets the job done. Rahul's approach has changed in the way he uses the pace of the bowler, looks to take the early singles and keep the board ticking over.