One of the greatest proponents of the long,meditative innings walked into the cricketing sunset on Friday in his typical straight bat fashion - letting on little about who he thought could be the next bulwark of India's middle order,and stressing that it was not talent alone that put him second in Test cricket's list of highest rungetters and fourth in the list of centurymakers. Batting legend Rahul Sharad Dravid,39,announced his retirement from international cricket on his home ground,the Chinnaswamy Stadium,at a press conference where,in keeping with his stoic style,he kept the emotions out and the focus on the task at hand. The decision,made despite many believing he still has some cricket left in him,came after long contemplation about his own and the Indian team's future,Dravid said. It was not dictated by his poor showing in Australia,and a final Test for a last hurrah was never on his mind,Dravid said. "I would like to believe that irrespective of how the Australian series had gone I would have come to the same conclusion. There were a few friends and people who I confided in who knew that I would be assessing after Australia not only my own position but also what position Indian cricket is at and what should be the way forward," he said. The timing of the exit has been on his mind for nearly a year,said the man known as 'The Wall' for the seemingly impregnable defensive technique that appeared suddenly to have abandoned him in Australia. "For a year now I have assessed after each series what should be the way forward for me personally and this was no different. I came back from Australia and sat down and wanted to take emotion out of it and sat back and spent a month at home and looked at things dispassionately and so I came to this decision. When I came to it I knew this was it,it was very clear in my mind," Dravid said. "For me I needed to be sure that I was playing the game for the right reasons. I was playing the game to compete,to win things for India,to be able to win Test matches for India. I have been doing that for 16 years - I felt that the time was right to move on. I did not feel the need to drag it on." Dravid declined to name any one cricketer who he thought might fill his boots in the national team,but said a bunch of exciting cricketers were on the scene now. "When I look back at myself as a 23-year-old playing for India and when I see some of the talent that is on show now I am sure that I was nowhere as talented a player as some of these kids. (But) obviously just being talented does not necessarily mean you will have a successful Test career," he said. "There are a lot of things that go with it,how you face the challenges and how you deal with things that are internal more than external and I think it will be interesting and really fun for me to watch some of these young talents establish themselves over the next two to three years. "If you have people going in and out of the team what that means is that they are not performing well enough and it leads to instability and you don't get the performances you need. It is going to be interesting to see which one of these kids can stand up," Dravid said. His former cricketing colleague and Karnataka State Cricket Association president Anil Kumble underlined the attributes that made Dravid special. "Rare are those individuals who hold the unique combination of exceptional talent and commitment whose ability to concentrate for long hours remains unmatched,he is someone who is constantly in search of perfection and striving for excellence at all times," Kumble said at Dravid's press conference. Prodded on whether he had considered retiring after playing a final Test in order to receive a grand farewell from players and the public,Dravid said it was completely against his nature to do so. "Look,if you make a decision in the course of a series it is fantastic - you get a nice farewell. To just keep playing for the sake of playing one Test match I didn't think was right. I do hope that people will appreciate my thinking that the only reason I played cricket for India was to win for India and to be the best player I could be and contribute to the team," he said. Dravid said part of his success was due to Sachin Tendulkar,VVS Laxman,Anil Kumble,Sourav Ganguly,Virender Sehwag,Harbhajan Singh,Javagal Srinath and others - the generation of players he played the bulk of his cricket with. "I was fortunate to have played in an era which was a pretty successful era for Indian cricket. My sons won't understand a lot now but if they go on to follow the game they would realize how great some of the players I have played with are and what they mean to Indian cricket," he said. Comparing his best Test knocks to his sons,Dravid said it was hard to pick a favourite innings. Top of the mind,however,were the 180 in Kolkata in 2001,the 233 in Adelaide in 2003,a couple of innings in Jamaica to win a Test on a low-scoring wicket,and the knocks at Headingley and Rawalpindi,he said. What he would do with life after international cricket would be decided around June after the end of his IPL engagements,Dravid said. The choice would be determined by how much time he can have with his family,he said. "I am going to miss my routine of an international cricketer a lot. I have woken up every morning and trained. My wife says we have to get me into a new routine. My new routine will have to be buying the groceries,taking my sons to school,cleaning.," Dravid said.
