Rahul Dravid: A gentleman player

It's not often that one gets to penetrate the defences of a great batsman who has earned the nickname of "The Wall" for fending off the fiercest, the fastest and the wiliest of bowlers around the world. With all his experience Dravid certainly knows which delivery to duck to avoid trouble in his own backyard. One of India's leading run-scorers in both forms of the game - Test cricket and limited overs - Dravid speaks at length about his love for the game, his favourite cricketers and film stars and also about his fascination for radio.

"There is an element of mystique to radio and I often listen to cricket commentary on radio, especially when one is stuck in a traffic jam."

Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Steve Waugh are some of his all-time favourite cricketers. Glenn McGrath is the bowler he has the highest regard for. 

Dressed in casuals, Dravid looked relaxed and dapper as always. In a lighter vein he, however, said that his female fan following has considerably dipped in the last few years since his marriage.

Known as a gentleman and seen more as a technically correct accumulator of runs rather than a swashbuckler and a big hitter, Dravid is increasingly seen as a Test player by team selectors.

So he was not chosen for the shorter, limited over, version of the game which India played in Australia.

Does he regret sometimes that he is not seen as a more macho, aggressive player? And does he think the image of a gentleman is not a good tag to carry in today's competitive cricket?

"Not really. I am what I am. I have not deliberately built an image for myself. In any case I also think that you can do little about things like these. You get an image in the first couple of years of your career and then whether you like it or not you are stuck with it for the rest of your life."

As there were more questions related to the glamour of cricket, Dravid was drawn more into the topic of all the fan following and hero worship which Indian cricketers are so used to.

"It's a part of life, sometimes it does invade into your private space but also it would be a lie to say that one does not enjoy it."

Do cricketers also talk in their dressing room about pretty faces amongst the spectators?

"Yes. But it's those fielding near the boundary line who get a better view of the spectators. Information trickles down late to those fielding in close-in positions," says slip-fielder Dravid, evoking peels of laughter from the audience.

Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Kajol are amongst his favourite Bollywood stars and the 1970s Hindi blockbuster Sholay is his all-time favourite film.

He loves the music of AR Rahman and his favourite holiday destination is a little-known tiger reserve near his home city of Bangalore.

"My only regret is that I have been going there for 10 years now but am yet to see a tiger."

Dravid loves home-cooked food and his favourite pastime off the field is to spend quality time with his family, particularly his two-year-old son, Samit.

"It's such a pleasure to watch him grow. The difficult thing really is to come up with answers to all the questions he has."

Dravid is now looking forward to playing a long innings and is quite excited about the changes taking place in Indian cricket.

Indian Premier League is the new buzz word revolutionising cricket in India.

Players from across the world as well as Indian stars have been bought over at unheard kind of prices by city clubs which will now take on each other in the 20-20 format.

Dravid himself is the key player and captain (referred to as an "icon" player in the IPL terminology) of the Bangalore team which is owned by the high flying Indian tycoon, Vijay Mallaya.

"Lets see how IPL catches on in India. I am excited to be a part of it. In India people are used to supporting the country rather than cities. So its going to be a new phenomenon. I am excited to share the dressing room with players from other countries."

--BBC