Being Rahul Dravid

If ever you needed proof that being a cricketer other than Sachin Tendulkar in India is not such a thankful job, try being in the shoes of Rahul Dravid once and you will get the proof. For years, the "Wall" (which to my mind is probably the only form of recognition he's got from Indian cricket fans) has had to be at the receiving end of ridicule right from the pundits to the common fan. Take for example the plaudits Dravid has received after the innings of 177 he made in the first test against Sri Lanka yesterday. Compare that with what Sachin Tendulkar received after scoring 175 against Australia at Hyderabad a few days ago. Alright, I agree that it was fantastic from Sachin. But the 177 made yesterday at Ahmedabad at least deserves to be treated on par with the 175 at Hyderabad. I open the cricinfo website to see what Sanjay Manjrekar has said about the knock and his commentary is more concentrated on Murali losing his magic than on Dravid's knock. And former cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Bishen Bedi who have one view or other about cricket published by the media every day do not have anything to say about Dravid. Compare that with the views and coverage after the 175 at Hyderabad. I must say that being Rahul Dravid is quite thankless.
Coz when the day breaks today, the media will suddenly have more important news than cricket to cover. The pundits will have something else to analyze. The fans will have another Tendulkar feat to wait and cheer for. All the while, the Wall would just defend with a straight bat and wait for the bowler to bowl the next ball with all concentration. Because when he walks back into the field today, none of these thoughts of mine would have even come to his mind. He'd just go in and sweat all over the pitch and add to that 177 while we sit and contemplate what Sachin would do in the second innings.