Wall to retire - Well played champion!

Thanks Dravid for the great innings and knocks. For staving many a defeat with grit and courage. For winning many abroad for us where no one could stand up and for being the spine of our batting for much decade in many a memorable overseas and home wins. You were the backbone of the team. Yours was the fortifying strength that defined our best cricket team in the history of India's game and yours will be the loss most felt and irreplaceable. Thank you for the wonderful memories and contributions. Indian cricket will be most poorer without you. But no fort and wall can survive the ravages of time and so crumble it does. Thanks for everything you gave to Indian cricket

Rahul Dravid likely to announce retirement shortly - LINK!



Wish you the very best!

It's good he isn't angling for a farewell series at home and trying to end on a high, if the news report and rumour mill is true. BCCI as usual has denied knowing of any such plans by the Wall. Wish they would deny having an IPL this year as well.

The bitter irony of someone nicknamed the Wall is the fact that he has also been bowled most in the game's history. Poetic or irony? Take your pick.

And so it begins finally - India's era of greatness. A time when we no longer can continue a proud tradition of great spinners and great bastmen. So here we are - No great batsmen, no great spinners and never had any great fast bowlers. The end of our test cricket sooner than later.

Sehwag and Laxman should follow, if Wall-D really is going.

... Or should go anyway.

Still speculation but if true, congrats on your career and a mountain of runs.

More lip service from BCCI? Or an awakening?- LINK

A BCCI official told TOI, "Dravid has always played cricket on his own merit and terms. If he decides to retire tomorrow, we will not be in a position to change his decision. He is, after all, Rahul Dravid." In other words, the Indian cricket board will not press for the star batsman to continue.

Easing out VVS Laxman, another big gun who has failed miserably in the series Down Under, is also said to be part of the selectors' action plan once the final Test draws to an end.

It does appear that the cricket board bigwigs are preparing to field a young team for the next Test series which is more than six months away. "We won't mind a new team, but the board will certainly take some corrective measures after such a pathetic tour," another source said.

BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla told reporters, "Our players have not performed overseas in the last two series and we are worried about this. Sometimes, players do not do well. There is no question of blaming (anyone), but corrective measures will be taken after the tour."

Curioser and curioser!

If it's true then it's a shame that he had to have a dismal series to force the decision. It's always more fitting that champions of the game, as Dravid clearly was, to go out on top, as the like of McGrath, Warne, Gilly and Langer did.

Still, congrats on a magnificent career to a man, who by all accounts, was one of the most decent people playing the game.

skully wrote:If it's true then it's a shame that he had to have a dismal series to force the decision. It's always more fitting that champions of the game, as Dravid clearly was, to go out on top, as the like of McGrath, Warne, Gilly and Langer did.

Still, congrats on a magnificent career to a man, who by all accounts, was one of the most recent people playing the game.

As recent as yesterday and today...

Heh. Oops.

skulls

You cant blame me for your typo...you know it was your fault

Well played Fence ...

skully in futile deflecting the blame for anything shocker

Dravid is speaking at a function I am going to next week. Maybe we'll get an exclusive then.

embee wrote:

skully wrote:If it's true then it's a shame that he had to have a dismal series to force the decision. It's always more fitting that champions of the game, as Dravid clearly was, to go out on top, as the like of McGrath, Warne, Gilly and Langer did.

Still, congrats on a magnificent career to a man, who by all accounts, was one of the most recent people playing the game.

As recent as yesterday and today...

Hope skully doesn't get to write Dravid's epitaph.

"Here lies Rahul Sharad Dravid - one of the most recent people to live."

welease Wahul ...

Welease Woderwick.

what the wuck.

Welease Wudolph the Wed nosed Wein Deew.

Welease Bwian

Outstanding "Nice Tits, Red" effort by the Dingo Pack and the Badger Pack.

According to Harsha, no Indian player has announced his retirement.

It gets murky and muddy. Too many 'team sources' are playing hardball with media and speculations. I would have thought BCCI and the seniors would have been on the same page for India's future team by now -

Reports of senior players retiring baseless: Team India - LINK!

Miffed with reports that its senior players were contemplating retirement after failing in the Test series loss to Australia, the Indian team management rejected the speculation as "baseless" and refused to answer queries on the matter.

India were whitewashed 0-4 in the Test series that concluded and the senior batting trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were heavily criticized for their poor show.

Their flopshow, in fact, led to speculation that the three could bow out after the series. But the team management rubbished the rumours.

"The team management categorically denies this. Reports about senior players retiring are baseless," said team manager GS Walia in the post-match press conference.

Walia refused to answer questions on the matter, saying that there was simply no truth in the reports.

India's stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag, who addressed the media after the match, also rejected reports of senior players' retirement.

"Some reports have said that senior players will retire after this series. No such thing has happened and this is a decision that they will take," said the dashing opener.

"These are rumours created by the media," he added.

Earlier there were reports that the 39-year-old Dravid, one of the game's greatest batsmen, had told some of his teammates that he had decided to hang his boots.



Just wtf is happening here. Its sounding more and more like a badly directed and acted sitcom.....

As bad as Cricket Australia has been, thankfully nowhere near the ineptness of BCCI.

No need to make a decision now - Dravid - LINK!

Rahul Dravid has said that he has not made a decision on whether to retire or not. There had been reports in the media about Dravid's imminent retirement after the defeat in Adelaide, which prompted the Indian team management to issue a statement saying that none of the senior players were about to quit. That point was reiterated by the acting captain Virender Sehwag, and now Dravid has said there was no need to make decisions immediately.

"I am definitely nearer the end than the beginning, there is no doubt about that," Dravid told Channel Nine. "I haven't made any decision and there is no need to make any decisions now, we're not playing another Test match for seven to eight months so we'll see how it pans out. At my stage in my career it's always about taking it a series at a time and not looking too far ahead, so we'll see what happens."

Dravid was in bad form during India's 0-4 whitewash in Australia, scoring only 194 runs at an average of 24. His failure came after good performances in his previous two series - 319 runs at an average of 64 against West Indies at home, and 461 runs at an average of 77 in England.

None of the other India batsmen averaged over 40 either in Australia and their collective failure led to India's second consecutive 0-4 overseas whitewash. Dravid said it was important that India try and regain ground as a Test team.

"We haven't done so well abroad over the last couple of series but I'm hopeful that some of the young kids will come through. It might take a bit of time but we'll build up a strong base.

"India needs to be a strong Test-playing nation, there are not too many countries playing cricket and I think if India is competitive in Test cricket it does make a difference."

India now play a tri-series in Australia, against the hosts and Sri Lanka, after which they travel to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup in March. The Indian Premier League is scheduled for April and May, after which India will play more limited-overs cricket. Their next Test series is only in August, at home against New Zealand.



Can someone run that by me again? If he knows he has reached closer to end and realizes India needs to build it's test side again, then what is the point of hanging in there on a series by series basis? He is taking away all the respect and reputation he has built over the last 2 decades for 2 or 3 extra series.