Tribute: Hark, Dravid fans!

Friends, Indians, countrymen, lend me your ears;I come to bid bye to Dravid, not to praise him.The evil that men do lives after their career;the good is oft interred with their retirement;so let it be with Dravid. The noble expertshadst told you Dravid was not a good captain:If it were so, it was a grievous inadequacy,and grievously hath Dravid answer’d it. [1]Here under the leave of the experts and the rest–For experts are honourable men:So are they all, all honourable men–Come I to speak here.He is my role model, inspiring and just to me:But experts say he was not a good captain:And experts are honourable men.His leadership hath brought many triumphs home to India,whose impact reflected in India’s ascendancy in the rankings:Was this a result of not good captaincy?When that his players went through a lean patch,Dravid hath lent support: [2]A not good captain should be made of sterner stuff:Yet experts say he was not a good captain.And experts are honourable men.You all did see him leading India to the historic test conquests in WI and England: [3]Was this a result of not good captaincy?Yet the experts say he was not a good captain:And, sure, they are honourable men.I speak not to disprove what the experts spoke,but here I am to speak what I do know.You all did rate him a tactical genius, not without cause:What cause convinces you then that he was not a good captain?O judgment! Thou art fled to biased beats,and men have lost their reason. Bear with me:My heart is in the blue jersey there with Dravid,and I must pause till it comes back to me.

[1] Dravid resigned from India captaincy on 14^th September 2007 and not a month elapsed before he was dropped from the ODI side.

[2] Captain Dravid persisted with Dhoni in the series against England (2007) despite the latter’s string of low scores.

[3] He captained the Indian team to a record 15 consecutive successful chases in the ODIs.

The Test series win against the West Indies came after the long wait of 35 years while the one against England was the first in 21 years.Dravid was also the first Indian captain to lead the team to a test win in South Africa against South Africa. Enviable overseas records, aren’t they?

(Based on Mark Antony’s speech in ‘Julius Caesar)