'The Wall' is coming down
It was at Lord's more than 12 years ago that Rahul Dravid took the first tentative steps of an epic journey that has encompassed more than 10,000 Test runs and 25 centuries
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
It was at Lord's more than 12 years ago that Rahul Dravid took the first tentative steps of an epic journey that has encompassed more than 10,000 Test runs and 25 centuries. And as the sand trickles slowly and cruelly into the bottom half of the timer, there is every chance that his final game will also be against England, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.
These days, though, he starts so slowly that all the momentum generated by the helter-skelter opening partnership of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir is inevitably lost. And all too often a couple of hours of toil is followed by a lapse and the sort of stroke that he would not even have contemplated in his halcyon days.
In Yahoo Cricket,Partab Ramchand looks at India's spin departement and wonders why Murali Kartik time and again gets the cold shoulder from the selectors, despite winning the praise of his county team-mates at Middlesex.
Has the younger brigade passed him by? That would seem to be the case though Kartik at 32 is still fit, hungry for success and as competitive as ever. He is still determined to play for the country and is only eager to be given an opportunity. His overall figures are not bad – 24 wickets from eight Tests at just over 34 apiece. Moreover, he is a bowler in the classical mould.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo