Last week, cricket lost one of the true gentlemen of the game when Rahul Dravid announced his international retirement.

The word legend is all too often branded about nowadays about a sportsman that has a half decent career, but for Dravid, the term legend is one that sits comfortably.

Having played for Kent back in 2000, Dravid showed his class by hitting 1221 runs from 16 County Championship games at an average of 55.50.

After hanging up his boots after 16 years playing for India, Dravid can look back on a career that will show that he scored 13,288 Test runs at an average of 52.31 whilst accumulating 10,889 runs in One Day Internationals.

Statistics can tell you so much. What they don’t tell you is the manner in which the runs were scored, but also anything about the man that scored them.

Dravid may well have been nicknamed “The Wall” for the way he went about occupying the crease, but he was far from unfriendly off the pitch and always had time for a chat.

Back in September of last year, when the Indian cricket team visited Canterbury for a One Day game against Kent, despite being assured the Indian side wouldn’t be available for interview, Dravid still had time to come and have a chat.

Being awarded his county cap that day by Kent skipper Rob Key was apparently one of his proudest days and the 39 year old spoke of his fondness of his time at Canterbury.

A keen lover of the game, Dravid may well have left the International arena as a player, but he seems destined to spend time within cricket in the long term.

Having interviewed hundreds of cricketers over the years, Dravid has got to be one of the most accomodating with his time and the manner in which he is prepared to sit down with you and give you honest answers to the questions given to him.

Sportsmen and women up across the world could learn a lot from someone like Rahul for the way he conducts himself both in the heat of battle and behind the scenes.

Too many youngsters take up their respective sports looking to see what they can get out of the game or how much money it will pay them, but for Dravid it was never about success or financial reward.

Doing what he loved most was what inspired him and that showed by the way he guarded his wicket as if it were his life.

When history books are written and people look back at players like Rahul Dravid in a few hundred years time, I wonder what they will tell. Will it be about his ability with the bat or his ability to enthuse others? Probably the former, but for me Rahul Dravid will always be remembered as someone that loved cricket.

Top picture supplied by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures visit www.sarahcanterbury.com