The Wall,as impregnable behind the wickets too

His slip catches are bound to be overshadowed by his performances with the bat. But those catches won matches for the whole country. I still remember during my first trip to New Zealand in 1998,Javagal Srinath wanted Rahul,who was then standing at slips at short leg. But there was already another fielder placed at short leg. Srinath insisted that Rahul was brought on,and he took a blinder of a catch to pack off McMillan.

In chilly winters,he would ensure he took around 80-100 practice catches daily. I have never seen him missing those catching sessions. After the batting nets we would find him go straight to catching practices and that is why he became so perfect.

We had a superb combination during the initial days of my career. I would tell him before every ball about the delivery I was about to bowl. ‘Rahul bhai do kadam peeche rahiye. Tez dalne wala hoon’ I would say. Stand a step back,I’ll be bowling fast.

But later,as I became a permanent member,we had developed various signs for each delivery. If I was bowling a doosra then I would keep my hand on my shoulder and stuff like that. He was the safest fielders behind the stumps and I think he understood things better because he was a wicket-keeper as well. The catch he took in South Africa to dismiss Dale Steyn last year was as if he had fevicol on his hand and it was not the first time he’d taken one of those stunners.

He once took catches of Justin Langer and Damien Martyn which turned the game in India’s favour but sadly these feats never got their real due. Bowlers’ performances or a batsman’s scores are always highlighted but the catches that changed the course of the game went without being noticed. Rahul always took pride in slip catching and with strong reflexes he made sure that very few dared to go past his zone. For me what will be sad to see is whenever I return to Test cricket and see a slip fielder in place,it will not be Rahul. Woh jagah filhaal toh koi nahi bhar sakta.