Fifty8230; over

Master batsmen,rivals,teammates and fans joined together to make it a memorable last walk for Dravid. It wasn8217;t just the end of his ODI career,but also his last game in England the place where he made his Test debut. The home of cricket has always had a soft corner for the gentleman batsman who spoke in their language and played the game as it should be played.

When he walked in to bat,he faced a match situation he had seen several times before. India were 52/1 from 12 overs. To cut a long story short,it was a crisis fit for Indian cricket8217;s eternal crisis man. In most of the 343 ODIs he had played before this one,Team India had looked at Dravid to manage those tricky middle overs. Match 344 in Cardiff was no different. And when Dravid walked away,India8217;s score was 227/3.

The 69 on Friday was a typical Dravid knock. He wasn8217;t the top scorer that was Kohli and he hadn8217;t hit the biggest strokes,they rang off Dhoni8217;s blade. But Dravid was being the unsung hero,once again. But talk to Trott or Swann and they would never stop singing the praises of India8217;s middle-overs master.