Dravid's omission surprises many

Rahul Dravid being dropped from the Mumbai match is a clear signal that the former captain's place in the one day side is once again under scrutiny.

Dravid is the first to admit that the shorter format of the game is not his forte, yet so far he has managed to adapt and create spaces for himself. Now time seems to be running out.

He has scored 51 runs from five innings at an average of 10. Is that deemed as a big enough failure to drop a player like Rahul Dravid. Well certainly not, is what the cricketing fraternity has to say including the Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

"I was quite surprised (at Rahul being dropped). He's done very well for India," Ponting said.
"It's shocking you cannot treat a player like this," said Vinod Kambli, former India captain.
Recent stats show that Dravid is in the worst slump of his one day career, and he stands alone amongst India's 'Big 3' in his failure to perform over the last 10 innings.

He averages a miserable 13, compared to a more than healthy 37 for Sourav Ganguly and a pretty fabulous 50 from Sachin Tendulkar.

So has life come full circle for Dravid? He started his career in one dayers with the tag of being too slow and even had to keep wickets to justify his place in the team.

But he proved all the critics wrong. Dravid is just one of three Indian batsmen in the 10,000 run club. He was the leading run scorer in the 1999 World Cup with 461 runs.

He is also the only batsmen to be involved in two 300 plus one day partnerships with Sourav and Sachin.
However, statistics don't always tell the story but many believe that body language says something. 'The Wall' has seemed very out of sorts ever since he gave up the captaincy.

While Rahul Dravid will be the one and should be the one to announce his one day retirement, most people believe that he must banish all thoughts of quitting.