Long after Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman ceased to be Rahul Dravid’s team-mates, emerging cricketers like Sharath Srinivas, Nihal Ullal, Zeeshan Ali Saayed as well as Stuart Binny continue to match strides between the wickets and work in tandem with the legend on the field.
More than a year-and-half after walking off into the sunset, leaving behind an unmatched legacy in international cricket, Dravid continues to ‘pay respect’ to club cricket, having turned out for the Bangalore United Cricket Club this season.
In Karnataka, the various KSCA leagues is not merely about participation and competition, it’s also about upholding tradition and preserving a culture. With the oldest clubs — like Dravid’s BUCC tracing its inception back to 1919 — club cricket is an intrinsic part of the state’s cricketing history.
As part of their week-long Platinum Jubilee Celebrations, KSCA on Tuesday had a tete-a-tete session with stalwarts Dravid and Javagal Srinath, who walked down memory lane.
Looking dapper in a bottle green shirt and beige trousers, Dravid held court as he spoke on the reasons behind his return to his roots, post retirement.
“It was a privilege to have got to play with players like Roger Binny, Sadanand Vishwanath, G.R. Viswanath. I still remember playing on the mat wicket at the IISc grounds with Raghuram Bhat bowling. To play club cricket has been a great tradition of Karnataka.
“When I saw stalwarts play, long before I started to play for the country, I had decided that if I was healthy then I would go back and play. I missed playing for 20 years since I was representing India Cements. But after my retirement I told them that I wanted to go back and play at the club. I can’t say I’m giving back, because I can never give back to the game. I wanted to play because of respect.”
Recalling his days as a starry-eyed youngster from Mysore, former pace ace Javagal Srinath, who is also the secretary of the KSCA said, “As youngsters we would watch great stars like GRV, Venkata Subba come and play in Mysore. That’s how cricket started to inspire me. Club was like a school and if I missed even a session then I would be very hard on myself.”
Dravid and Srinath advised the youngsters to look for mentors who need not necessarily be their coach.