The Quiet Legend

There are some who startle you with their brilliance and leave you awestruck and yet others who, go about achieving that brilliance in a quiet, almost unnoticeable manner. He had a dream debut, played a flawless inning and played with a maturity and efficiency far belying his age, yet he is remembered as an afterthought for another debutant stole the show. The difference - he was 5 short 100 when he got out, while his partner also a debutant, scored the much-prized maiden century.

Yet he persisted, a player with technique so flawless and timing so sweet, you wouldn't want him to stop and he wouldn't. The Wall he came to be known in the years to come. The anchor with rock-solid defence who held one end together. Indeed, India's most memorable test victories will more often than not see this man holding fort. The glory, of course, will go to the highest scorer. So be it Lords or Eden Gardens, Rahul Dravid finds himself in the shadow of another batsman simply because he didn't score as many runs as his partner.

And yet today, the man who always seemed like a second fiddle in big partnership and relegated as an anchor, meant to hold an innings together (a job he has done admirably for over a decade now) has in his own unique style completed the feat of scoring 10,000 runs in Test cricket - only the third Indian after Gavaskar and Tendulkar to do so.

He is a fine example of quiet dignity, of hard work and concentrated, earnest effort. This man, we call The Wall has done more for a team than can or should be expected. Moulded his game to suit the interest of his team. Kept wickets, opened, dropped down the order, captained the side when there was none to do so and even took on the responsibility of touring overseas with that team minus a coach. No mean feat.

I am the first to admit that each performance should be taken on its merit and a player is only as good as his performance is that particular day's game. But there are some legends, whose brilliance cannot be ignored. These aren't players who shout about their work, or even draw attention to it, but they go about it in a dedicated manner and just when you begin to doubt the effort, they give you proof of their genius. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, we shall give this quiet legend the applause he so deserves.