Canberra, Dec 14: In his 40-minute speech delivered at the annual Bradman Oration at the Anzac Hall at the National War Memorial, Canberra, Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid highlighted the benefits of each format of cricket while saying that the three could co-exist. The speech mixed gravity with levity while making key observations and offering insights into the way the sport affects the lives of cricketers and fans.

“There is a place for all three formats, though we are the only sport I can think of which has three versions. Cricket must treasure this originality. These three versions require different skills, skills that have evolved, grown, changed over the last four decades, one impacting on the other.

“Test cricket is the gold standard, it is the form the players want to play. The 50-over game is the one that has kept cricket's revenues alive for more than three decades now. Twenty20 has come upon us and it is the format people, the fans want to see,” the proud member of the 13,000 Test runs club said.

Dravid, who became the first cricketer from outside Australia to deliver the Bradman Oration, also threw in his support for day-night Tests and a Test championship. “In March of last year I played a day-night first-class game in Abu Dhabi for the MCC and my experience from that was that day-night Tests is an idea seriously worth exploring. There may be some challenges in places where there is dew but the visibility and durability of the pink cricket ball was not an issue.

“Similarly, a Test championship, with every team and player driving themselves to be winners of a sought-after title, seems like it would have a context to every game.”

Dravid also dismissed the idea of scrapping the 50-over format during his speech

“There is a proposal doing the rounds about scrapping the 50-over game completely. I am not sure I agree with that - I certainly know that the 50-over game helped us innovate strokes in our batting which we were then able to take into Test matches. We all know that the 50-over game has been responsible for improving fielding standards all over the world.

“The future may well lie in playing one-day internationals centered around ICC events like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups. This would ensure that all 50-over matches would build up [towards] those tournaments.”

In his heartfelt speech, Dravid also asked the game’s administrators to focus on the fans as, “Everything that has given cricket its power and influence in thee world of sports has started from that fan in the stadium. They deserve our respect and let us not take them for granted. Disrespecting fans is disrespecting the game. The fans have stood by our game through everything. When we play, we need to think of them.”

Dravid admitted to never having met the great Don Bradman in person, and that his own link with the great cricketer was through history books and some old video footage. However, despite there being very little in common between their records and strike-rates, Dravid was pleased that he, like Bradman, was a No. 3 batsman. Calling the responsibility of batting at No. 3 a ‘tough, tough job’, Dravid said:

“We're the ones who make life easier for the kings of batting, the middle order that follows us. Bradman did that with a bit more success and style than I did. He dominated bowling attacks and put bums on seats; if I bat for any length of time I am more likely to bore people to sleep. Still, it is nice to have batted for a long time in a position, whose benchmark is, in fact, the benchmark for batsmanship itself.”

Dravid also alluded to the famous comparison Bradman himself drew with Sachin Tendulkar. “It was more than mere approval; it was as if the great Don had finally passed on his torch. Not to an Aussie or an Englishman or a West Indian, but to one of our own.”

Right at the beginning of his speech, Dravid highlighted the shared histories of the Indian and Australian people saying, “Before they played the first Test match against each other, Indians and Australians fought wars together, on the same side. In Gallipoli, where, along with the thousands of Australians, over 1300 Indians also lost their lives. In World War II, there were Indian and Australian soldiers in El Alamein, North Africa, in the Syria-Lebanon campaign, in Burma, in the battle for Singapore.”

Dravid also lauded the role played by the IPL in bringing the two countries together. “Thanks to the IPL, Indians and Australians have even shared dressing rooms. Shane Watson's involvement in Rajasthan, Mike Hussey's role with Chennai, to mention a few, are greatly appreciated back home. And even Shane Warne likes India now. I really enjoyed playing alongside him at Rajasthan last season and can confidently report to you that he is not eating imported baked beans any more.”

During his speech, the Indian batsman dwelt on the significance of cricket in India, saying that a game which was once patronised by princes and businessmen in traditional urban centres had now begun to pull in cricketers from everywhere. Dravid also appreciated the role of the BCCI in spreading revenues from the growth in earnings to various pockets in the country.

Describing the growth of the game in India, Dravid said, “Twenty-seven teams compete in our national championship, the Ranji Trophy. Last season Rajasthan, a state best known for its palaces, fortresses and tourism, won the Ranji Trophy title for the first time in its history. The national one-day championship also had a first-time winner in the newly-formed state of Jharkand, where our captain MS Dhoni comes from.”

The universally respected batsman also made a case for Indian cricket as a whole, often reviled for pandering to commercial interests. “As players we are appreciative beneficiaries of the financial strength of Indian cricket, but we are more than just mascots of that economic power. The caricature often made of Indian cricket and its cricketers in the rest of the world is that we are pampered superstars. Overpaid, underworked, treated like a cross between royalty and rock stars.

“Playing for India completely changes our lives. The game has given us a chance to pay back our debt to all those who gave their time, energy and resources for us to be better cricketers: we can build new homes for our parents, get our siblings married off in style, give our families very comfortable lives,” he said.

On the upcoming four-match Australia versus India Test series, Dravid said, “It is Australia's first chance to defend their supremacy at home following defeat in the 2010 Ashes and a drawn series against New Zealand. It is India's opportunity to prove that the defeat to England in the summer was an aberration that we will bounce back from.”

He, however, also issued a warning to the Australians in this part of his address, “When we toured in 2007-‘08, I thought it was going to be my last tour of Australia. The Australians thought it was going to be the last time they would be seeing Sachin Tendulkar on their shores. He received warm standing ovations from wonderful crowds all around the country.

“Well, like a few, creaking Terminators, we're back. Older, wiser and I hope improved.

“The Australian public will want to stand up to send Sachin off all over again this time. But I must warn you, given how he's been playing these days, there are no guarantees about final goodbyes.”

Dravid concluded his address by asking cricketers to play for the sheer joy of the game and to play it within its rules. “As the game's custodians, it is important we are not tempted by the short-term gains of the backward step. We can be remembered for being the generation that could take the giant stride,” he said.