The God of fine things

This past week, during the Ahmedabad Test, Rahul Dravid crossed 11,000 runs and became the fifth highest run scorer in the five-day game. The man who once admitted that “most people want me to get out quickly so they can watch Sachin bat" is the intelligent man’s guide to what a sportsman ought to be, writes Suresh Menon in Tehelka. But Menon also asks the question: Is Dravid the best supporting act in the history of the game or a great player born in the wrong decade?

Today even the die-hard Tendulkar acolyte is willing to wait, for he knows that Dravid getting out early usually spells disaster. At 32 for four against Sri Lanka, not even Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman carried back into the pavilion with them all the hopes of a nation. Dravid was still batting, and that was reason enough to go about the normal business of living a life. He did not disappoint, guiding India past 400. While a Sehwag or a Tendulkar cry halt to life in the nation, with fans dropping whatever they are doing to watch the action, Dravid lets life go on. It is as if his countrymen are saying, adapting Robert Browning, ‘Rahul’s at the crease, All’s right with the world.’