Rahul Dravid vs England in 2011 - part 1

The Indian Cricket Team toured England for the season July - September , 2011. The tour comprised of four Test matches, five One Day Internationals and a lone T20 battle. Before the start of the Test match series 'Pataudi Trophy' the team had some first class matches. Coming to the first Test (July 21 - 25, 2011) at the Mecca of Cricket, 'Lord's stadium'-London, it was the 2000th Test match in the international cricket. India won the toss and elected to field first. England scored 127/2 at the end of Day 1 play. Meanwhile the match was interrupted with intermittent rains. There was a blow to the Indian team at the end of Day 1 as Zaheer khan suffered from hamstring injury. At lunch on Day 2, England scored 217/3 with Pietersen and Bell playing at their best. After lunch, Dravid kept the wickets since Dhoni tried his hand in bowling. Dhoni has bowled 10 overs in that match (both the innings). Whenever Dhoni went for bowling, Dravid did his best in wicket-keeping once again stood by his team whenever they are in need of him.

At one end , Praveen Kumar was bowling at this best and took a five - wicket haul and at the other end, Pietersen was playing his temperament innings hitting the ball at right areas to reach his double century which had boosted the score of England. England declared the innings at 474/8 after tea break on Day 2, where Kevin Pietersen was unbeaten at 202. Then openers Gautam Gambhir and young Abhinav Mukund started the first innings for India. At the end of Day 2 India were 17/0 at stumps. On Day 3, India had quite a normal start with openers shared a 50 run partnership. Then gone the wicket of Gambhir when India was at 63. The very next wicket of Mukund went quickly and India lost two wickets before the lunch on Day 3.

 

Then in came Dravid and Tendulkar. Both played hard and managed a good partnership of 80 odd runs at a crucial situation. Then Tendulkar got out in 30's. At one end wickets were stumbling regularly and at the other end, Dravid was doing his regular duty for the team playing rock-solidly to save the match. He crossed the half-century mark in 98 balls. This situation was not new to him as he was always there to the team for umpteen times at such occasions. Though the England bowling was excellent, Dravid played in his own style by handling every ball a little later than others which helps him always. His foot work while playing the great shots or even while defensing would be a great lesson for the budding cricketers. I say this not only because of some experts opinion, but also from my own observations. Even the defense shots teaches you how to tire a bowler who attacks with different strategies. And it is said that Dravid enjoys playing in England as he has already familiar with the conditions there since he played in county matches for the Kent team. But even though he is aware about the conditions there, many experts said that it would be always hard to face the seamers there and Dravid has handled it well in such conditions.

Dravid after reaching his 33rd Century overall and
first century at Lord's stadium - the Mecca of Cricket

Images Source : My collections from the web

Stats Source : ESPN Cricinfo

Dravid had hit some consecutive boundaries in Anderson's over at a crucial situation. At the other end after the loss of Raina and Laxman at succession, Dhoni batted alongside Dravid after tea break. The Indian captain hit two fours in his score of 27 runs. As soon as Dhoni got out, the next wicket was Harbhajan Singh who was out for a duck. Then in came Praveen Kumar who handled the England attack little better and scored 17 runs which comprised two boundaries. India was looking on to avoid the follow on and it was done successfully by the major contribution from Dravid. After 15 years of his debut at Lord's where he missed the century in 5 runs in 1996, Dravid was in thirst to attain his dream in that match and yes he scored his first century at the Lord's (33rd overall) from 202 balls comprising 15 boundaries which included some fabulous cuts, square drives and cover shots. His dream came true in a much needed situation for the team. Dravid was seen quite satisfied about his century visually. A batsman who has all his celebrations inwards was found in much joy thumbing the air after attaining his dream. Dravid remained unbeaten with 103* runs as India avoided follow on. But the team score was 286 all out which was 188 runs behind of England's first innings score of 474. 

Then England began their second innings on Day 3 after the drinks break. They continued batting up-to Day 4 in which Ishant Sharma topped the table (India side) with four wickets and Matt Prior topped the table (England side) with his score of 103 runs which helped England to score 269 runs with the loss of 6 wickets. England declared their 2nd innings at 269/6 setting the target of 458 runs with one and a half day remaining for the test. To bat their second innings India opened it with Dravid and Mukund. Again Dravid was available for the slot since the team needed him. If you see in this match alone he took the work of wicket-keeping when Mahi (Dhoni) was bowling and even adapted himself for the opening slot when the team needed. Dravid - a true team man ! At the end of Day 4 , India were 80/1 with Dravid and Laxman at crease. Then the very next morning on Day 5, Dravid got out for 36. Even then Laxman and Raina crossed their half centuries, India were all out for 261 and lost to England by 196 runs. Unfortunately Dravid's century in the first innings helped in avoiding follow-on but haven't helped in winning the test. Kevin Pietersen of England won the Man of the Match award for his double century in the first innings. 

Every cricketer's wish would be to feature in the honor board at the Lord's stadium and so was Dravid's. He might have missed it in 1996(when scored 95 runs in his debut at Lord's), but achieved it on July 23rd, 2011. Its a rare show where the opponent team appreciates a single man's effort and it happens rarely in cricket. It happened when Dravid walked out of the stadium after his 103 not out. Every England player appreciated the wonderful innings from one of the most respectable cricketer Rahul Dravid and he also got a standing ovation from the crowd.

Here's the glimpse of Dravid's name in the Honor board at the Lord's stadium :

Source : rediff.com

Here's the video comprising the highlights of Day 3 of first test ( July 21-25,2011) :

Videos Source : YouTube

Stay tuned for the entire episode of Dravid vs England in 2011..

Thanks for reading :)