There was once a boy who rolled up his sleeves and made his way to the relatively empty roads in Indira Nagar to exercise his skills at the short-lived pitch. Open spaces prompted him and the kids of his colony to test their adeptness with the bat and ball.

That young man soon grew up to be known as The Wall of the Indian cricket team. Rahul Dravid is as thankful to those open spaces that triggered his love story with the bat and ball as he is to other things. “It was great growing up in Bangalore,” recounts Dravid. “There were a plenty of open spaces then. Now there are cars on the road and kids can’t play,” he notes. When The Wall came calling on Commercial Street, on Tuesday evening, the moneyminting lane saw a different sort of flurry. Dressed in red and white pinstriped Indigo Nation shirts, Dravid and his Royal Challengers teammates Vinay Kumar and Akhil goodnaturedly posed for pictures with a stream of cricket fans as the three men paid a visit to the Indigo Nation showroom. As part of the Indigo Nation’s latter’s effort to promote their brand as the official formal wear of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they hosted the three men to a fan party of sorts. People posed for pictures with the former captain of the Indian team and smiled seeing instant photographs churn out much to their delight. Grown up men waved Rahul Dravid masks and managed to get them autographed. Thanks to these marketing memorabilia, they were a happy lot. With the Champions League just round the corner, the batsman is visibly excited talking about it. But to begin with, he clarified an oft asked query. “I like all formats of cricket. Twenty twenty has an interesting format,” he pointed out. “We are looking forward to the Champions League. We were disappointed last year. In twenty twenty, nothing can be taken for granted. We will be playing against some of the best teams in the world. But we have a good team,” he noted. As he got up to sign on the ‘Rahul Dravid was here’ poster, behind him, a sea of messages on the wishing wall echoed the optimism of the Royal Challengers fans – ‘make Bangalore proud.’