This story is from March 10, 2012

I have lived in a cocoon: Rahul Dravid

"I don't think it's right just to keep playing for the sake of one Test. I needed to play for the right reasons," said Rahul Dravid.
I have lived in a cocoon: Rahul Dravid
"I don't think it's right just to keep playing for the sake of one Test. I needed to play for the right reasons," said Rahul Dravid.
BANGALORE: There were no tears shed, but the emotions were overflowing when Rahul Dravid announced his retirement on Friday. Surely, it would have been tempting to carry on for that one more series, that one home Test where the adoring fans could come together to provide the right setting?
"I don't think it is right just to keep playing for the sake of one Test," Dravid said, "I don't think that was the way I played the game.
It was important for me to move on. I needed to play for the right reasons and as much as I respect other people's feelings that I should have played another Test, I hope they will respect and appreciate my feelings."
Understandably, everyone present at the Chinnaswamy Stadium - including Dravid himself - would have had mixed feelings. It must have been a huge decision for Dravid to take. "When you leave something like playing for India - a life that I have lived for close to 16 years and five years before that of first-class cricket - it is tough. It's all I had known all my growing life," he started.
"From that point of view it was difficult decision. But it also wasn't a difficult decision for me because I knew in my heart deep down that the time was right. I was very happy and comfortable in what I had achieved and what I had done. It is hard in a way and it's also easy in a way."
Dravid was also at pains to point out that he would have hung up his boots even if the Australia tour had gone India's and his way.
"Irrespective of how it went, I was sure that after the Australia tour I would sit down and look at a lot of things. Now it is easy for me to say but I would like to think that I would have come to the same conclusion."
He added: "I truly believe that a little bit of time away from the game will be good for me. I have played this game for 20 years and lived in a cocoon, a surreal world. It has been away from reality in some ways and so many former cricketers have told me that if I get away from the game for me a while, it will give you a better perspective and you will be able to come back and look at things differently. When you play, it is difficult to see things from outside. Whatever decisions I take will be based on the fact that I have a young family."
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