The End of Rahul Dravid’s ODI Career: Some Observations

The Indian Squad for ODI series against Australia was announced today.  The big surprise was that Rahul Dravid was dropped from the squad. It came as a shock because he performed well in the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2009. In ICC Champions Trophy 2009, India suffered early exit but Dravid was in good form. So, it was shocking to many people in India. Of course, the selectors have perhaps one good reason. They needed to bring back injured

I think that it is the end of the road for Dravid as far as ODI career is concerned. He has been often criticized in the past for his slow batting action in ODI cricket. Well, in the recent years, he tried to change and become more aggressive. He has good batting average but he has become old and is not sharp in fielding like past.

Sports37 wrote:

Now, let us come back to Rahul Dravid story. I just do not understand what selectors had in their mind when they recalled Dravid and what brought an abrupt change in their mind regarding Dravid, one of the most successful ODI batsmen ever. India is going to face a confident Australia in the home series and India’s confidence is not very high, given their recent performance in Twenty20 world cup and Champions Trophy. So, an experienced player like Dravid could have been very crucial for India.

It seems that many people are unhappy with the exclusion of Dravid from the team. Former Indian captain and coach Ajit Wadekar requested the selectors not to drop Dravid. Wadekar felt that Dravid did very well in Sri Lanka and South Africa and he deserves a place in the team.

Dravid came from a generation when India had perhaps 4 great players in the team- Tendulkar, Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid himself. These 4 were world class players and had a number of records among them. Ganguly and Kumble have already retired. With Dravid almost gone perhaps, the lone survivor will be Sachin Tendulkar.

As for me, I think that Dravid should focus on Test Cricket only. There is no doubt that he is a great batsman of our time. However, you have to understand that he is now 36 years old and he does not have that many years ahead of him. The tragedy is that in Indian team, there is no good batsman to replace him. So, it is better he focuses on test cricket only and can continue another 2-3 years.