The England roar has grown louder with every passing day of the tour and only one Indian has stood unflustered outside the lion's den – RahulDravid, whose 35th Test hundred on Sunday took him past Sunil Gavaskar and placed him at No. 4 in the list of top Test centurions.
India is down, and surely out as well, but nothing can be taken away from Dravid's contribution. His third hundred in this English summer may once again be in a losing cause, but blame it on other illustrious names – SachinTendulkar included.
The list, which is dominated by the Australians (4), includes three Indian batsmen and is led by Tendulkar's 51 Test centuries.
1. SachinTendulkar (Ind), 51 centuries
2. Jacques Kallis (SA), 40 centuries
3. Ricky Ponting (Aus), 39 centuries
4. RahulDravid (Ind), 35 centuries
5. Sunil Gavaskar (Ind), 34 centuries
6. Brian Lara (WI), 34 centuries
7. Steve Waugh (Aus), 32 centuries
8. Mathew Hayden (Aus), 30 centuries
9. Don Bradman (Aus), 29 centuries
10. MahelaJayawardene (SL), 28 centuries
It won't be wrong to admit that of all the aforementioned names, Dravid is the best in terms of technique in the modern era – and surely at par with, if not above, Don Bradman.
The studious intensity of Dravid's knock at The Oval on Sunday was no different than the one he walked in with on his first day in international cricket in 1996 – also in England.
