Rahul Dravid: One of the best to have ever batted

Sixteen years after making his debut for India, Rahul Dravid has decided to hang up his boots.

From being the highest run getter in Test cricket in 2011 to being bowled 6 times in 8 innings in Australia this year, Dravid's retirement might not have been timed to perfection, but much of his Test career was about perfection.

If the fans think about his career they will remember the 233 Adelaide in 2003, the 270 at Rawalpindi in 2004 and the 148 in Headingley in 2002 - Knocks that gave India its most memorable Test wins of the last decade.

His Test career ends with him as part of the most famous clubs in international cricket - 4th in the list of most Test hundreds, 2nd in the list for most test runs and one of only six players to make more than 10,000 runs in both Tests and one-dayers.

Dravid's two-year stint as India captain is not one that had too many highlights and it also ended abruptly. Nevertheless no one can forget him leading the team to their first Test series win in England in 21 years.

"I do enjoy the captaincy, I see it as a great honour and privilege and I think I've enjoyed everything that comes with it. You got have to accept that there will be tough days as a captain when you turn from being a good boy to everyone's whipping boy," Dravid had once said.

Of course many of Dravid's innings were often overshadowed by the brilliance of Sachin or that of another flamboyant colleague in VVS Laxman, making us forget his 180 when India won the Kolkata Test vs Australia in 2001.

And the story was pretty much the same in his Test debut in 1996 when Sourav Ganguly got a 100 on debut while Dravid's 95 was more easily forgotten.

Yet he was the man for India when it came to putting one's hand up for the team. Dravid was synonymous with solidity, class and selflessness. He opened in Tests, kept wickets in one-dayers and never complained about a declaration when he was on 91 not out in the Sydney Test in 2004 when India wanted to push for a win.

Over the years, Dravid found himself in an elite company as one of the great champions of international sport.

But his text-book approach to the game also made him face criticism of how he can't play ODIs and that he is not cut-out for T20s or he's not as good as Sachin. But Dravid will always have a special place in the hearts and minds of his fans. For he was often the wall you would bet your life on when it came to any tricky Test.

He stood as the immovable rock, mentally impregnable, and a man who proved all critics wrong. Rahul Dravid will be remembered as pure class who has become synonymous with excellence that has placed him in a rather elite company.

When he joined the 10,000 Test run club in 2008, a wall with equal number of bricks was raised in Bangalore. And there's no doubt that he's has earned every single brick of that wall.

When he inspired India to their first win in Australia in almost 23 years, there was no doubt that his place in history was sealed forever.

What has been remarkable is the consistency with which he's been able to do it overseas. In 2006, Dravid scored two fifties in the Jamaica Test as India won their first series in the Caribbean in 35 years.

A quiet and private man, he was said to have been annoyed at the coverage and attention that his wedding received in 2003, especially since he believed that there were other events that should have been covered.

Not known for his flair off the field or his sense of humour, Dravid will always be remembered for his focus and dedication to the game, the sort that saw him win the inaugural ICC Award for the World's Best Cricketer.

Yet, as captain, he couldn't be everything he would have hoped for, taking over from India's most successful captain, Sourav Ganguly, he was often dubbed too defensive. Again he quietly took it into his stride.

"They've (media) got a role to play. I don't take it personally though. There will be a captain after me and he'll go through the same thing, the captain before me went through it as well. It's not about Rahul Dravid but the position that one inherits, and some of the joys comes with learning things and dealing with it," a philosophical Dravid had once said.

He went on to captain India for just about 2 years. Yet, he quit the top job when India was celebrating another famous overseas win - this time winning in England after 21 years. The very next series, he also went to lose his place in the ODI team as well.

But even then, it was evident that he hadn't stopped enjoying the game. His 93 at the WACA set up a famous win for India in 2008 as they achieved Perfection at Perth.

But the IPL is perhaps where the Dravid run machine developed a few snags. Dravid himself, in spite of a few brave knocks, just couldn't inspire Royal Challengers Bangalore, a team many had called a Test team as they finished 7th out of 8th in the inaugural season.

Yet as he walks off into the setting sun, Dravid will be remembered as one of the best to have ever batted. A man who stopped many opponents right in their tracks, almost as if, they had run in to a wall.