Rahul Dravid The Bhisma pithama/Karna Of Indian Cricket

 Every Hindu epic has a few characters who display impeccable  character.
Similarly  Indian cricket has Rahul Dravid.I would like to draw upon analogical similarities between great characters of mahabharata , Bhisma pithama/Karna and Rahul Dravid.

==>Similar to how  Karna was abandoned in favour of pandavas,rahul dravid despite being a good ODI player the later part of ODI  career was scarified so that new faces can show up in the team.

==>It was Rahul Dravid who first announced that senior players would not take part in 20-20 cricket just before 20-20 world cup which paved way for India's success in inaugural 20-20 world cup.This is similar to the stand that Bhisma took(in staying with the kauravas) when the kurukshethra war was about to start

==>Since India lacks good batsmen in the current series(2011 IndvsEng ODIs) Rahul is being recalled by BCCI to bolster the ODI side.This is similar to th e case where druyodhana begged Bhishma to lead kaurava's into battle despite many younger warrriors like drona ,karna who were also possible suitors.The trait that tilted balance in favour of Bhisma was character integrity in addition to being a good warrior.Similarly though India has lot of Indian youngsters who are keen to make a impact in current series selectors wanted to bring back Dravid who is the epitome of classical stroke play and ofcourse good batting in IPL matches.


==>Have never seen Dravid loose his cool regardless of the moment whether India is winning or losing similar to Bhisma who put up with every nonsense in his life ranging from his old father not asking him to marry as he wanted to marry a young maiden and also allowing kauravas to run rampant when they asked pandavas to leave for vanavas

==>Dravid kept wickets for a long time for India in the ODIs and in recent test series (Ind vs Eng 2011) when  Dhoni wanted to bowl a few overs .This which was not at all necessary as India has always had a great talent pool and it would be very easy for BCCI select a decent wicket keeper from the domestic circuit(Ranji,Duleep,Deodhar to name a few) . This can be equated karna donating his kavacha kundala to fully knowing that the alm seeker is Indra.This is case of sacrifice which was not required from Dravid .

The list is endless and we can just salute Rahul Dravid for  his yeoman service to Indian cricket


Twists in Dravid's tale :- Mr Dependable