I don't dread quitting, asserts Dravid

The owner of close to 11,000 runs in the shorter format gets nostalgic as he looks back at his one-day journey.

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Is there a touch of emotion as you play your last ODI?

Not really. It does not feel like I am finishing in some ways or it is like retirement or it is the end since I will be playing Test cricket. Obviously, I will not be playing anymore one-day cricket which I thought I would not be playing two years ago. I don’t think it is any different in this game but it’s a nice time to reflect on what was a pretty pleasing and satisfying one-day career.

Did you dread quitting one form of cricket?

I am not dreading quitting. You just got to recognise that the time has got to come at some stage when you have to move on. I am happy and comfortable in the space I am in. I am happy with the way my career has progressed in both forms of the game. I have had some highs and lows in both forms. That is life, that is cricket and it has taught me a lot about myself as a person and how to deal with a lot of things. I have absolutely no regrets. I do not dread the day at all.

How do you look back at your one-day journey?

When I started my career, obviously I wasn’t recognised as that much of a one-day cricketer, probably more in the traditional frame of mind. That’s how I grew up playing cricket, so there was a lot more learning I had to do in one-day cricket. Along the way, I faced some ups and downs, I got dropped in the middle, I had to go back and learn some lessons, I had to improve my game and keep getting better. In some ways, it helped me free up my Test game as well and it has given me a lot of satisfaction. I have ended up playing more than 300 one-day games for India. I have done a lot of different things for India in one-day cricket.

In some ways that versatility, that ability, challenge to do different things helped me a lot. When you are batting at number five or six, there are different kinds of bowlers and different kinds of situations you are facing. You open the batting and it’s different, batting at three is different, keeping and then batting, batting and then keeping... I think it helped me grow as a person and cricketer. The fact that I played over 300 games, close to 11,000 runs gives me a lot of satisfaction. Maybe people might have said at some stage I will have a successful Test career, but I guess not many people would have said I’ll play that many one-dayers at the start of my career. I wouldn’t have said that about myself.

The last few weeks have been good for you personally...

My wife did mention that there were some very nice things written about me during the Test series back in India. The Test series was a bit of bittersweet in the sense that there was a lot of satisfaction of personally against a tough attack but it has been a disappointing tour for us. But I am truly humbled by some of the nice and good things said about me in the last few weeks.