The Wall...standing tall

I take pride in saying that I have been an admirer of this man right from his debut. Practically every cricket follower around, used to ridicule me for my "poor taste" and these discussions would run into hours and I'd find myself up against the whole crowd, trying desperately to prove a point.
"Has he ever shown his worth?", "He's so slow, he's going to be dropped from a test match, like Boycott was, for selfish batting!!", "He's no good for the 50 over game" were the usual complaints. There were better judges of cricketing techniques around me, but somehow they chose to speak ill of him, more often because they didnt believe in him, and sometimes for the pleasure of ganging up against a poor soul, that was wise enough to foresee the rise of one of the best batsmen in contemporary world cricket!!! Lord, forgive these ignorant men!! ;-)
His flawless technique (discounting his relative weakness against leg spin), the ease with which he tackles the most ruthless of bowling attacks on the deadliest of pitches, his determination to make the bowlers pay with blood and sweat for his wicket and ofcourse, his sparing displays of emotion(unlike the former captain!!) are all widely acknowledged and appreciated.
But that which impresses me every time I watch him at the crease, is his uncanny ability to let a ball pass without doing it any harm, and more importantly, to himself. Agreed that its not as entertaining as the flamboyant strokes of sachin or the agricultural smacks of dhoni. But, from my modest ventures with the game, I can definitely say that its not easy to show restraint. When the likes of akthar and lee are pounding on your toes and skull alternately, and then, there suddenly comes a short, wide ball saying "hit-me", where is the time to resist the temptation?(ask sehwag!!) Any batsman will find himself slashing at it wildly, and if lucky at the end of it, will manage a sheepish grin or a tense stroll down the pitch, whispering to himself nervously, "control yaar....Greg tera band baja dhega!!".
But for our man, on the other hand; the Rawalpindi express comes chugging in all the way from the pavilion, straining every muscle and delivers a 150kph fireball with a loud grunt of exertion. In response, the wall simply yawns in his face and lazily lifts his bat to let it pass. It is as though, he has all the time in the world to assess the line of the delivery, to calculate that its about 10 inches outside the off-stump and hence harmless, to recall that there is a bugger at third man, to remind himself that the next in line is the worthless kaif and finally ofcourse....a flash of Greg :-) As my friend once told me, for great people time moves so slowly that they almost know whats going to happen next!!
The only fitting reward for this man, would be the world cup 2007 under his leadership, and ofcourse, the khel ratna. Lets see if he shows some emotion atleast then!!