Who's the next Wall in the making??

A Chinese in conversation with an Indian
Chinese:  Have you seen The Great Wall of China?
Indian: No.
Chinese: It’s just amazing! Do you know it’s the only structure that can be seen from the moon? We have made it into the Guinness Book of World Records because of it and all the other countries are jealous of it!
Indian: Have you seen our living wall?
Chinese: What? Who? No I haven’t…
The Indian smiles and replies, “He is Rahul Dravid and he has a greater number of records to his name.”

Well China might have made it into the Guinness Book Of World records by building the longest wall, but we Indians should take pride in having another Wall in our country, who used to be the envy of all the other cricketing nations. The man who stood with a willow in the 22yards for the last 16years and showcased shots that were straight from the cricketing text book which helped him to amass humongous amount of runs and records for India. He is none other than Mr.Dependable aka Rahul Sharad Dravid.

Well, now with his retirement from tests we won’t be able to witness his exquisite timing, technique, classy cover drives, deft cuts and most importantly the rock solid defense, which earned him the nickname of  ”THE WALL”. It’s a golden opportunity for the young guns to rise to the occasion and fill in the blanks left in the current Indian batting lineup.

It’s a tough ask for the youngsters to replicate what Dravid did wearing the Indian cap, but this seems to be the most crucial opportunity for them could cement their positions in the test squad and also for the upcoming test series. How they cope up with the pressure and test, will redefine their character and will also determine what  future lies ahead for Indian cricket. With tough challenges in the near future, it looks like the stage is set and the Indian cricket fans are waiting for the next Wall.

But who will be the next Wall?  That’s the million dollar question right now.

On the basis of the current form only two players seems to be in contention for the spot vacated by Rahul Dravid. And the contenders are Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.

23-year-old Kohli, who was promoted to vice-captain of the ODI format, definitely seems to possess the talent and temperament to occupy the crucial number three slot in Test cricket for the team. His displays of technique and class seem to have glimpses of Dravid. When he hits those elegant cover drives it seems all the fielders have been glued to the ground and the only thing they can do at that moment is to just stand and admire the shot. He is in the form of his life and if he is able to replicate the form that he has shown for team India in the shorter versions of the game it won’t be long before he seals the no.3 spot.

He is surely going to give Kohli a run for his money  when it comes to being  called the next Dravid. With his ton against the Kiwis it looks like he has stolen all the limelight from Kohli. But it will be an immature call to term him as the next wall, but he surely seems to be in strong contention. He did justice to the faith that BCCI and the Indian captain showed in him by sending him one down. By anchoring the disarrayed Indian innings he showed the cool and calm temperament that Dravid is famous for. Being sidelined from the test squad for much of the time after a knee injury he has certainly shown his character quite a bit by bouncing back and grabbing the opportunity to its utmost.

So who is it gonna be who will fill in the shoes of Dravid?

In the next few years we cricket fans can witness another great player close to Dravid’s calibre whose name will be written with gold in Indian cricketing history.