Fighting back tears at a star-studded felicitation function, an emotional Rahul Dravid on Tuesday said that he had lived the dream of playing for his country for 16 years and was confident the future lot of players would take Indian cricket to greater heights.
Published: Mar 27, 2012, 10:56 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 27, 2012, 10:56 PM (IST)
Rahul Dravid said that he had made a pact with himself not to cry though he was ‘tested to the limits’ © AFP
Mumbai: Mar 27, 2012
Fighting back tears at a star-studded felicitation function, an emotional Rahul Dravid on Tuesday said that he had lived the dream of playing for his country for 16 years and was confident the future lot of players would take Indian cricket to greater heights.
Dravid said that he had made a pact with himself not to cry though he was “tested to the limits”, in a function attended by a galaxy of former and current India cricketers, BCCI officials and other dignitaries.
“I had made a pact with myself I would not cry, but it’s been tested to its limits,” said the batting great, who announced his retirement from international cricket on March 9.
Watched by his long-time India mates Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, current captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and other team members, Dravid said he was fortunate to have donned the country’s colours after having seen greats like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath and Kapil Dev in action.
Dravid has scored over 23,000 international runs and stands second behind Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time Test batting chart.
Both Kapil, who inspired him by leading the country to the 1983 World Cup, and fellow great Tendulkar were, however, absent from the function.
“Nearly three weeks ago I announced my retirement and I am taking it all in. I am finding it difficult to go to the gym every day with the IPL keeping me busy for the next two months. I won’t be playing for India anymore but I would be watching the Indian team members perform by sitting in front of TV with a cup of tea and biscuits.
“I am sure Mahi (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) and his team will take Indian cricket to greater heights,” he said in the presence of former cricketers Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar and Bapu Nadkarni among others.”(PTI)
