A Tribute To The Wall

Your ODI Debut Happened When the Cricketing World Was Busy in Talking About Jayasuriya's Fastest Ever ODI Century Of All Time.

Your Test Debut Happened And You Fell Just 5 Runs Short Of A Century On Debut At Lords, But The Cricketing World Was Busy Talking About Sourav Ganguly Who Acheived The Same Feat You Had Missed By Those 5 Fateful Runs.

The World Somehow Missed To Greatly Appreciate The Gentleman You Were, When You Knicked And Started Walking Without Waiting For The Umpire To Tell You That You Were Out. An Unlucky, Yet Glorious 95 That Was!

Your First ODI Century Came Up In The Same Match When The Cricketing World Was Astonished By Saeed Anwar's 194 In Chennai And Nobody Even Guessed That You Would Continue To Be That Same Classic And Fearless Fighter For Another 15 Long Years.

People said That You Were Not Made For ODIs As They Had Easily Forgotten The Fact That You Were The Only One Who Stood Firm In The Field When Two Other Legends (Sourav & Sachin) Made Scores Of More Than 180 And You Partnered With Them On The Biggest Ever 300+ Partnerships In ODIs On Two Different Occasions, In The Same Year. Again, The Most Of That Glory Went To Your Batting Partners.

In The Historic Kolkata Test That India Won After Being Sent To Follow-On, You Stood With Laxman All Day Long And Grilled The Aussies' Gruesome Bowling Attack. Laxman Was Glorified More, And You Had Just The Lesser Share Of That Limelight.

RIP Test Cricket And Position No.3 In The Indian Batting Line Up!

Honestly, I Hate The Way You Quit International Cricket! It Would Have Been Absolutely Great If You Walked Back To The Pavilion, One Last Time For Us, Amidst Huge Cheers And Farewell Tears!

Thank You Jammy! You Were Unlucky, Unsung, Unrecognized, Yet An Unmatchable & Uncontroversial Hero Of The Game!

My Personal Favorite Was When You Didn't Let The Ball Move An Inch Away From Your Toes When Shoaib Akhtar Gunned A Lightning Delivery, Closer To The 100 Mph Barrier. Akhtar's Smile Said It All! No Wonder You Were "THE GREATEST WALL"!

A VERY GOOD BYE TO "THE GREATEST GENTLEMAN" TO HAVE EVER GRACED THE GAME!

RAHUL DRAVID's Mastery & Style Will Forever Be Missed In The World Of Cricket!