Abhinav Bindra's Olympic gold had inspired Rahul Dravid

NEW DELHI: On a gloomy Tuesday evening, Rahul Dravid brought a bit of heart and a dash of humour to a packed auditorium at the India International Centre. The 42-year-old retired international batted passionately for Paralympians, revealed how shooter Abhinav Bindra's Olympic gold motivated him during a slump in form, joked on the burden of being The Wall and spelt out his four favourites at the ODI World Cup next month.
He was delivering the keynote address at the first TCM Sports Lecture series titled, Beyond Boundaries.
It wasn't much of a revelation. But the ace cricketer picked out India, along with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa among the favourites to win the cricket's biggest prize. The former India captain said that in the prescribed format a team needs three good days and a bit of luck to lift the trophy. Dravid said the Indian team is packed with match-winners. On a day when MS Dhoni's Men in Blue received a rude wake-up call from England in the ongoing triangular series, that claim sounded more like a wish from an ex-teammate.
Dravid, who typifies the gentleman cricketer, recounted in detail the inspiring story of Murlikant Petkar, a soldier who was shot in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, was disabled and won a gold in swimming in the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg. And he had a wish-list to improve Indian sports. He wanted the country to keep supporting elite athletes, desired sports federations to pay more attention to grooming young talent, integrate sports and education, focus on women's participation in sports and pay more attention to Paralympians and the participants in Special Olympics.
He recalled that his U-19 team had a fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh who spoke only Hindi and a spinner from Kerala who only knew Malayalam. "Once the two were together at the crease and we couldn't stop laughing at the prospect of miscommunication between the two. But they put on 100 runs for the last wicket.
"They spoke the common language of sport and were united by aspiration," he said.
Dravid revealed Bindra's gold in Beijing Olympics had inspired him. "He had quest for excellence and obsession with perfection. That included shaving off a millimetre from his shoe for the right posture."
In a well-prepared lecture, the cricketer said sports is an important avenue for social mobility and recounted a report by Ernst and Young to emphasise how The Dhoni Effect had helped Ranchi gain recognition worldwide and improved its economy.
When asked whether he saw anybody else as The Wall, Dravid said he wouldn't wish the label on anyone. He said the epithet was made for headline writers seeking a bit of fun when the chips are down. "You get headlines like: 'The Wall is crumbling down' and Another brick in the Wall," he joked.
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