Who is the greatest batsman in the world? With his Standard Technique, Temperament, Class, Perfect, Versatile that suits in all conditions and works equally well in attack and is called “The Wall” in defense when it matters most. Just close your eyes and imagine who has all these qualities without any arrogant attitude, the true Gentleman and brand ambassador of world cricket, one and only Rahul Dravid.
Rahul Dravid known for his outstanding batting technique. He is one of the solid classical batsmen in cricket history. He is also equally known as “Mr. Dependable” and “The Wall”. His nicknames describe his technique of batting solid and dependable batting style. He is a perfect example of a team player. If the team wants an opener, he is there. If a team wants to play an extra bowler excluding the wicket keeper, Dravid can be a wicket keeper. If the team doesn’t have any captain, he will lead the side.
Under Rahul Dravid Coaching Indian Team won the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup after 14 years. This was his biggest achievement as a Coach and player. Dravid’s role was a Head Coach. Rahul Dravid coaching period is over, Gautam Gambhir has joined as India Cricket Team Coach from July 2024. Rumors are IPL team KKR are trying to reach Dravid for mentor for KKR team.
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Table of Contents
Personal Information
Full Name – Rahul Sharad Dravid
Born – 11 January 1973 (Age51)
Born Place – Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nick Name – The Wall, The Great Wall, Jammy,
Mr. Dependable
Height – 5ft 11in (180m)
Batting – Right Handed
Bowling – Right arm off break
Role – Batsman, Part time Wicket keeper
Teams
1990 – 2012 Karnataka
1996 – 2012 India
2000 Kent
2003 Scottish Saltires
2008 – 2010 Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011 – 2013 Rajasthan Royals
Head Coaching Information
2015 – 2021 India U-19
2015 – 2021 India A
2021 – 2024 India
Profile and Education
Rahul Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 12 and later he played for Karnataka at under-15 , under-17 and under-19 levels. Dravid was earned as one of the best five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers Almanack In 2000 and received the Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year awards at the ICC awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. He was the first non-Australian cricketer who won the Bradman Oration in Canberra in 2011.
Dravid was born to a Marathi speaking Bramhin family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Later his family went to Banglore, Karnataka, His mother tongue is Marathi. Dravid’s father, Sharad Dravid, worked in a company who produced Jams and preserves. That is the reason his nickname is “Jammy”. His mother, Pushpa, was a professor of architecture at the university Visvesvaraya college of Engineering in Bangalore. His younger brother’s name is Vijay.
Rahul completed a degree in commerce from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. He was selected for the Indian Cricket Team while working towards an MBA at the St Joseph’s College of Business Administration. He is effortless with Marathi, Kannada, English and Hindi.
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Career Stats and Records
Achievement and Awards
- 1998 – Arjuna Award
- 2004 – Padam Shri
- 2013 – Padma Bhushan
- 1999 – CEAT International Cricketer of the World Cup
- 2000 – Wisden Cricketer of the Year ( One of the five cricketer)
- 2004 – ICC Cricketer of the Year
- 2004 – ICC Test player of the Year
- 2004 – MTV Youth Icon of the Year
- 2006 – Captain of the ICC’s Test Team
- 2011 – NDTV Indian of the Year’s Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2012 – Don Bradman award with Glenn Mcgrath.
- 2015 – Wisden India’s Highest Impact Test Batsman
- 2018 – ICC Hall Of Fame
Domestic Career
Dravid started his cricketing career at age of 12 playing for Karnataka. Former cricketer Keki Tarapore noticed his talent while coaching at summer camp in Chinnaswamy Stadium. He scored a century for his school team.
Dravid made his debut in Ranji Trophy in February 1991. He scored 82 runs against Maharashtra in Pune, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath also played in the same match. National team selector’s noticed his positive performance against England A in 1994-95 for India A.
International Career
Rahul Dravid made his debut for Indian National Cricket Team on 03 April 1996 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in the Singer Cup in Singapore. He didn’t score much, got out cheaply on three runs, but took two important catches. Next game against Pakistan he failed again and scored only four runs.
After a successful five years performance in domestic cricket he made debut in Test cricket. He made the famous Test debut at Lord’s on 20 June 1996 against England. He scored crucial 95 runs and an important partnership with Sourav Ganguly, got the first inning lead for his team.
Dravid’s first success in ODI career was against Pakistan in the tough conditions of Toronto in the 1996 Friendship Cup. He was the highest runs scorer in the series. He scored 220 runs with an average of 44.00 and strike rate of 68.53. In Standard Bank International One Day Series 1996/97 in South Africa with 280 runs from eight games at an average of 35.00 and a strike rate of 60.73. Dravid scored his first ODI hundred against Pakistan in 1997 Pepsi Independence Cup at Chennai. Dravid top scorer for India the quadrangular event with 198 runs from three matches with an average of 94.50 and strike rate of 75.80. India failed to reach the final of that series.
Dravid meanwhile branded as a Test specialist, he scored well in Test cricket, hence he possessed a low strike rate in ODI and he faced the criticism of his lack of attacking capability. Dravid increased his range of strokes and adopted the batting style which suits in ODI cricket. He has learned how to pace the innings in different phases.
In the 1998-99 New Zealand tour he showed his class in ODI, he was the top scorer of the series with 309 runs from five games at an average of 77.25 strike rate of 84.65. He scored 116 runs in 118 balls against Sri Lanka in 1998 / 99 Pepsi Cup.
World Cup
Dravid made his World Cup debut against South Africa 1999 at Hove, India lost that match. In the next match against Kenya he set a 237 runs, a World Cup record partnership with Sachin Tendulkar at Bristol. Indian Wicket keep were injured, forcing Dravid to keep the wickets for the rest of the innings. Dravid once again set up the record breaking partnership of 318 runs with Sourav Ganguly against Sri Lanka. Dravid scored 145 runs from 129 balls with 17 fours and a six, becoming the second batsman in World Cup history to hit back to back centuries. India didn’t qualify for the semi-finals, Dravid was the top scorer in the tournament with 461 runs from 8 games at an average of 65.85 and strike rate of 85.52.
Dravid was named in the squad as a full time wicket keeper batsman in South Africa 2003 ICC World Cup. Strategy is to play a specialist batsman, and that worked for India in the World Cup. India won eight consecutive matches to qualify for the World Cup finals. India lost the final against Australia. Dravid contributed with 318 runs at an average of 63.60 and 16 dismissals (15 Catches, 1 Stumping). Dravid gave his best; he scored fifty against England , 44 not out against Pakistan in a successful chase and another fifty against New Zealand in chase.
Dravid was appointed as a captain of the India Cricket Team. India entered in this world cup as runner up winner of the 2003 World Cup. This was the most disappointing world cup ever, India, Bangladesh, Bermuda and Sri lanka were in the same group. Bangladesh won their first match against India by five wickets. After this heartbreak India won the second match against Bermuda and beat them by 257 runs. India set the record for highest total in an innings 413 runs. In the last match against Sri Lanka, India lost by 69 runs. India were eliminated from the tournament.
Test Cricket at its best
Eden Garden
The mighty Australia toured India in February 2001. In the first test match Dravid failed to score in first innings but in second innings Dravid scored 39 runs in 196 balls. Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in three days. During the second Test at Eden gardens, India were all out for 171 runs in first innings and enforced a follow on after securing a lead of 274 runs in the second innings, Dravid came at 6th position,
Dravid joined Laxman and they made history by bringing the 376 long runs partnership. Dravid and Laxman played out the remaining time on the third day and the whole of the fourth day, Australia didn’t pick any wickets on the fourth day of the Test match. Laxman scored his highest score 281 runs and Dravid scored 180 runs. India declared their innings at 657/7 , Australia needed 384 runs to win the match and seal the series with 75 overs remaining. Australia bowled out on 212 runs in 68.3 overs. India won the match by 171 runs. This was only the third incident where a team won a test after forcing a follow on.
Third and deciding Test match at Chennai, Dravid made 81 runs in the first innings and took the 4 catches in the match. India defeated Australia in the series in Chennai 2-1.
Dravid topped the average for the 2000-01 Test season with 839 runs in six matches at an average of 104.87.
Adelaide
India played four test match series against Australia on their home soil. First match was a draw. In the second test at Adelaide Australia scored 556 runs in the first innings when Laxman joined Dravid in the middle. They batted for 93.5 overs and scored the second 300 runs partnership. Laxman scored 148 runs and Dravid scored brilliant 233 runs, However India were all out on 523 they were 33 runs short. India bowled Australia out for only 196 runs. Ajit Agarkar took six wicket- haul and India needed 230 runs to win that test match. Dravid scored 50 as they registered their first test victory in Australia since 1980-81. This was the first time that Australians were 0-1 down in a home series. Dravid declared as Man of The Match Australia level that series 1-1 . Dravid was the top scorer for India with 619 runs at an average of 123.80 and was awarded player of the series.
Indian Premier League
Rahul Dravid started his IPL journey with Royal Challengers Bangalore for season 2008,2009 and 2010. Later he was part of Rajasthan Royals he was captain of the side.
Dravid announced his retirement from T20 after playing the 2013 Champions League Twenty20. Dravid joined Rajasthan Royals between 2014 -2015 as a mentor.
Retirement
Dravid was dropped from the ODI team in 2009, but was selected again for the ODI series in England in 2011, he announced that he would retire from ODI cricket after the series. He played his last ODI against England on 16 September 2011, Cardiff, scoring 69 runs from 79 balls. Dravid announced his retirement from Test and Domestic cricket on 09 March 2012. He was second-highest run scorer and had taken the highest number of catches in Test cricket at the time of his retirement.
Coaching Experience
At the end of his playing career, Dravid took the mentor role to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL team 2014. After leading RR to a third place finish in 2015 IPL. Due to this performance he was appointed as the head coach of the India U-19 and India A teams. Dravid became a successful coach, with the U-19 reaching the finals of the 2016 U-19 Cricket World Cup. After two years the team won the 2018 U-19 Cricket World Cup, defeating Australia by 8 wickets.
Dravid was appointed Head of Cricket at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in July 2019, He was in charge of “overseeing all cricket related activities at NCA and was involved in coaching, mentoring, training and motivating players, coaches and support staff at the NCA”. He was praised for maintaining the senior team and revamping players’ fitness and rehabilitation regiments.
In November 2021, Rahul Dravid was appointed as head coach of the Indian national cricket team. Under his coaching India won the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. India cricket team finished as runners up at the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup, 2023 ICC World Test Championship final and semi finalist of 2022 ICC T20 World Cup.
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Social Commitments
- Children’s movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA)
- UNICEF Supporter and AIDS Awareness Campaign
Conclusion
Rahul Sharad Dravid is a role model and great leader who inspires many generations. He is a true gentleman, cricket really needs this kind of gentleman. Such a team player every team wants in their XI. His Passion, Dedication and his technique are really up to the mark. He scored over 10,000 runs in both Test and ODI cricket, that’s considered one of the greatest of our generation.
