Rahul Dravid Says He Doesn’t ‘Want to Block a Youngster Coming in,’ Fans Pay Tribute to 'The Wall'

Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid, often referred to as the The Wall, announced his retirement from the game at a press conference in Bangalore Friday.

While sports Web site cricketcountry.com called the announcement as a feeling of losing a lung, millions of fans are expressing their sadness on social networking sites.

Fellow Indian team cricketer Yuvraj singh, who is undergoing chemotherapy in the U.S., wished Dravid good luck for his future and tweeted: Have a great retired life. Wishing you and your family best of health and happiness.

Siddharth Mallya, the son of business tycoon Vijay Mallya, tweeted: What makes players like Rahul Dravid more special is that away from the field he was a model pro and a top class chap. Will be missed.

Actor Rahul Bose thanked Dravid for all these years in cricket and tweeted: Rahul Dravid reflects an India that is honorable, ethical. hardworking and thoughtful. (And, he was a genius). Thank you, rahul. Thank you.

Former Indian cricketer and one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s, G R Vishwanath thinks that it's still too soon for the 39-year-old batsman to end his career. I thought he still had a couple of years of quality cricket left in him. That's what I told him when he rang me up to inform me about his decision. He is still very fit and he didn't get runs only in the Australian series. But then, no one else did either, the Times of India quoted Vishwanath as saying.

When Vishwanath asked Dravid to ponder upon and reconsider his decision, he replied, No sir, I have already made up mind. I don't want to block a youngster coming in and establishing a career in the team.

Vishwanath said, No doubt, he is one of the most technically accomplished batsmen of his era and his records speak for themselves. But when you have such a long career, there is every possibility that some doubts creep into your mind about your technique, especially when you are not doing well.

I remember he repeatedly got out to a moving ball on one of the tours. So he came back and hit 1000 hanging balls to rid of his problem. He was a thinking cricketer with vast amounts of concentration. In my time, Sunil Gavaskar had that quality and after him it was Rahul, he said.

#Rahul Dravid has been trending on Twitter for more than 24 hours and fans are tweeting continuously, paying respect to the The Wall of the Indian Cricket. Some of the Tweets said,

As is usual in India, they could name a street after #RahulDravid. But then, the Americans have already done it. Wall Street.

When was a trend on Twitter, no1 for 24 hrs? We may have started it, but probably even #Twitter will say, #RahulDravid, you're 'The Wall'!

Mr. Rahul Dravid thank you for making me love test Cricket. Who cares 48th or 50th test hundred. Legend in test cricket will be #RahulDravid

i started watching cricket becoz of him :D he was my super hero :) #Rahuldravid

#RahulDravid - For his achievements,records, he has been the 'Unsung' Hero. But neverthless, Class is Permanent. #TheWall ! =)

#RahulDravid will be missed in Indian & International cricket, a class player I admired! It's all signs that test cricket is dying.

Dravid scored a total of 13,288 runs, 36 centuries and 210 catches in his career.