Cricket community 'salutes' Tendulkar, Dravid

NEW DELHI: As the two stalwarts of cricket -- Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid -- bid adieu to the slam-bang format, the cricket community took to social networking site twitter to express love and admiration for the two icons.

Bidding farewell to his friend and one-time rival on the field Tendulkar, West Indies batting legend Brian Lara twitted: "The last scoring shot in T20 cricket from @sachin_rt was one of the best i have seen from the "Little Master" #legend."

Tendulkar's final T20 act and Dravid's last hurrah in competitive cricket were the talking points at the Feroze Shah Kotla here last night as the two legends played their last match in coloured clothing for Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, respectively, in the title clash of the Champions League T20.

BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said the two veteran batsmen would always be missed.

"Todays match was last T20 match for both the legends sachin tendulkar and rahul Dravid salute to both of them India will always remember you," he wrote on his twitter account.

Out-of-favour India opener Gautam Gambhir said Indian cricket will be poorer without Rahul Dravid.

"Standing ovation to Rahul Bhai. Thanks for all what u hav done for Indian ckt. It will be poorer without u Rahul bhai. #respects," Gambhir wrote on his twitter handle.

While India middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary wrote: "It was a nostalgic moment seein sachin & Rahul paa g playin their last match in coloured clothes. Thank u 4 inspirin us all ??

Former India cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar was all praise for Dravid.

"Rahul Dravid - I have never met a cricketer with such intelligence & abundant knowledge of the world he lives in," Manjrekar twitted.