A Biography of Rahul Dravid: The Nice Guy Who Finished First

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

An author, screenwriter and anchor, Devendra Prabhudesai (b.1976) has worked across sectors-from working with the Police to rehabilitate victims of crime to planning and executing some of the biggest cricketing events in India in the recent past. He was Manager-Media Relations and Corporate Affairs, at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from January 2008 to July 2015.

He designed and scripted India's first 'Heritage Cricket Walk for HopOn India in 2017. He was Guest Editor of "The Rock, a special issue on Rahul Dravid that India Today brought out in 2006. 'The Nice Guy Who Finished First' was originally written in 2005. It was his second book.

Walter Reginald Hammond represented England in 85 Tests and scored 7,249 runs at an average of 58.45 in a glorious career that stretched from 1927-28 to 1946-47. These were stupendous figures, but unfortunately for him, whatever he did, his Australian contemporary Donald Bradman did better.

In an international career that began in 1928-29 and culminated in 1948, Bradman scored 6,996 runs from only 52 Tests. He scored seven more hundreds than Hammond and averaged the small matter of 99.94 runs per Test.

Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge, a destructive opening batsman from the Caribbean, scored 93 and 107 on his Test debut against India at Bengaluru in 1974-75. That marked the beginning of a remarkable career. He amassed 7,558 runs from 108 Tests at an average of 44.7, inclusive of 19 hundreds and 34 fifties, in a career that ended in 1991. However, he was unable to command the adulation he deserved for the simple reason that his career coincided with that of a cricketer named Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, who made his debut in the same Test as he and ended his career a few months after he did. 'King' Richards scored 8,521 runs from 121 Tests at an average of 50.23. He crossed hundred 24 times in Tests and outshone nearly every batsman of his era.

The Nice Guy Who Finished First is the remarkable story of Rahul Sharad Dravid. It tells the tale of an individual who succeeded in his chosen profession because of his ardent faith in the five Ds-Dedication, Discipline, Determination, Devotion and Desire.

The updated version of the biography reconstructs the incidents and events that contributed to making Rahul Dravid one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game. It is a tribute to an epitome of grace and humility, and a role model who refused to rest on his laurels, always lived in the 'here and now' and did whatever he could do to achieve long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes. He remains as committed to the quest for perfection in his present incarnation as Coach as he was as a Cricketer.

Rahul Dravid's moments of triumph are described in the biography, as also his trials and tribulations. The book narrates the epic battle, one that he eventually won, to break free of the stereotypes that haunted him in his early years at the international level. His efforts to emerge from the intimidating shadows cast by some teammates and contemporaries are illustrated in great detail. The book highlights the physical, mental and of course, technical attributes that have elevated Rahul to legendary status.