Rahul Sharad Dravid is one of the most experienced players of the Indian cricket team, having been a regular member since 1996.

He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from his position in September 2007. After representing India for 16 years, he retired from all formats of international and national cricket in March 2012.

Dravid was honored as one of the five Wisden Cricketers in the year 2000. Dravid was awarded the ICC Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year awards at the 2004 inaugural awards ceremony.

Known as the wall because of his ability to bat for a long time, Dravid has created many records in the world of cricket. Dravid is a very calm person. Popularly known as the "Wall", Dravid is known for his long stay on the pitch.

He is the third batsman after Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar to have scored more than ten thousand runs in Test cricket. On 14 February 2007, he became the sixth player in world cricket history and the third player in India after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to score 10,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He is the first and only batsman to score a century against a nation playing all 10 Tests. Dravid currently holds the record for most catches in Test cricket with more than 182 catches.

Dravid has scored 75 century partnerships with 18 different partners, a world record.

Private Life

Rahul Sharad Dravid
; Rahul Dravid; ; Personal information
Full name	Rahul Sharad Dravid
Born	11 January 1973 (age 48); Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nickname	The Wall, The Great Wall, Jammy, Mr. Dependable
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm off break
Role	Batsman, Part-time wicket-keeper
Website	www.rahuldravid.com
International information
National side	India (1996–2012);
Test debut (cap 207)	20 June 1996 v England
Last Test	24 January 2012 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 95)	3 April 1996 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	16 September 2011 v England
ODI shirt no.	19
Only T20I (cap 38)	31 August 2011 v England
T20I shirt no.	19
Domestic team information
1990–2012	Karnataka
2000	Kent
2003	Scottish Saltires
2008–2010	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011–2013	Rajasthan Royals
2014	Marylebone Cricket Club
Career statistics
	Source: ESPNcricinfo, 30 January 2012

Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka in a Maratha family. His paternal ancestors were Iyers from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

He grew up in Bangalore, Karnataka. He speaks Marathi and Kannada. Vijay is his younger brother. Both the brothers grew up in a simple middle class environment. Dravid's father worked for GE Electric, a company known for making jams and other preserved foods, so members of his team at St. Joseph's High School, Bangalore gave him the nickname Jamie.

His mother Pushpa was a professor of architecture at Bangalore University.

Rahul Dravid received his degree from St. Joseph's College of Commerce Bangalore, Karnataka on 4 May 2003. Rahul married Dr. Vijeta Pendharkar, a Nagpur-based surgeon,and their son, Samit, was born on 11 October 2005.

On 27 April 2009, the winner gave birth to their second son.

Preparatory Year

Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 11 and represented the state at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels. He was coaching at a summer training camp in the U.S. He scored a century for his school team. Along with batting, he was also wicket-keeping. However, he later stopped keeping wickets on the advice of former Test players Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and Tarapore.

In February 1991 he was selected to make his Ranji Trophy debut against Maharashtra in Pune (still studying at St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore) as well as future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath on the 7th. Scored 82 in a draw match after batting while playing in position.

His first full season was in 1991–92, when he scored 380 runs at an average of 63.3 and scored 2 centuries. And he was selected for the Southern Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

International Career

After this he was dropped from the team and again selected for the tour of England. Dravid's career began in a disappointing manner when he was replaced by Vinod Kambli for the Singer's Cup in Singapore in March 1996, just after the World Cup to play a one-day match against the Sri Lankan cricket team.

He then made his debut with Sourav Ganguly in the second Test against England, when Sanjay Manjrekar was injured after the first Test in the same tour.

Rahul scored 95 during. and maintained this position for the third Test, scoring 84 on Manjrekar's return.

After good performances against Australia and South Africa, Dravid maintained this position during the 1996–97 tour of South Africa.

He scored his maiden centuries with 148 and 81, playing at number three in the third Test in Johannesburg. His maximum score in each innings earned him the man of the match award.

He scored his first half-century against Pakistan in the 1996 Sahara Cup, in which he scored 90, in his tenth match.

By the end of these 18 months in mid-1998, he played one series against the West Indies, one series against Sri Lanka and one home series against Australia, scoring 964 runs at an average of 56.7 consecutively.

He scored 11 half-centuries but was not able to convert it into triple figures.

In late 1998, he scored his second century in a Test match against Zimbabwe, scoring 148 and 44 in both innings, but he could not stop India from losing.

He became the third man to score centuries in both innings in a New Year's Test match against New Zealand in 1999, a record previously held by Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar, scoring 190 and 103*, New Zealand v India Hamilton, 2–6 January 1999.

His tour in the subcontinent in early 1999 was moderate, scoring 269 runs at an average of 38.42, followed by 239 runs at 39.8, including a century against New Zealand at the end of 1999.

After this his performance in the series against Australia was poor. He had a poor performance against South Africa in another home series in which he scored 187 runs at an average of just 18.7.

After that he scored 200*. It was his maiden double century against Zimbabwe in Delhi as well as he helped India to victory, scoring 70* in the second innings as well.

He crossed 50 for the first time in 12 months and scored 162 runs in the next Test, scoring 432 runs in two match series at an average of 43.

Continuing this, the pair posted 376 runs for the fifth wicket in the second innings of the match.In the second Test of the three-Test series against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, Dravid, along with VVS Laxman, returned the biggest win in the history of the game.

Dravid scored 180 while Laxman scored 281 runs. Although Dravid was the second best, it remained one of his best performances to that day.

Later in the same year he turned South Africa's victory into defeat, scoring 87 in the second innings against South Africa at Port Elizabeth. It was a very important match.

2002 was the year when Dravid began to emerge from Tendulkar's shadow and established himself as India's premier Test batsman. In the month of April, in the first Test match of the series at Georgetown, West Indies, he scored an unbeaten 144 in his first innings when he was dismissed by a Mervyn Dillon delivery. Later in the same year, he scored four consecutive centuries against England (3) and West Indies (1).

Dravid in World Cup

In the 7th World Cup (1999), Dravid scored the maximum runs, scoring 461 runs.

He is the only Indian to score two back to back centuries in the World Cup. He scored 110 against Kenya followed by 145 in a match at Taunton. Where later he kept wickets. He was the vice-captain during the 2003 World Cup in which India reached the final, he played a dual role for his team as a batsman and a wicket keeper, also reducing an extra batsman, it was a big advantage for India.

Dravid was the captain in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies where the Indian cricket team performed poorly. Dravid scored 14 in Bangladesh match, 7* in Bermuda match and 60 in Sri Lanka match.

Style

With a strong technique, he proved to be the backbone for the Indian cricket team. His early image of a defensive batsman who should be restricted to Test cricket only, he was dropped from One Day Internationals because his pace of scoring was too slow.

However, he continued to score runs in ODIs in his career, earning him the ICC Player of the Year award.

His nickname 'The Wall' now refers to his consistency in Reebok commercials. Dravid has scored 26 centuries in Test cricket with an average of 55.11, including 5 double centuries. In ODIs, however, he averages 39.49 and has a run rate of 71.22. He is one of the few Indians who averages higher outside than at home, averaging 10 more runs on an overseas pitch than on an Indian pitch.

On 9 August 2006, Dravid averaged 65.28 in overseas Tests while his overall average was 55.4. And his ODI average is 42.03 while his ODI average is 39.49.

Dravid averages 78.72 in Tests and 53.40 in ODIs in the matches India has won.

Dravid's only Test wicket was Ridley Jacob, it was during the fourth Test against the West Indies in the 2001–2002 series. Dravid has never bowled, but has often kept wickets in ODIs for India. He first handed over his wicket-keeping gloves to Parthiv Patel and recently Mahendra Singh Dhoni has started keeping wickets.

Dravid is now a full-fledged batsman, having averaged 63.51 in matches played since January 1, 2000.

Dravid was involved in two matches with the most partnerships in ODIs: 318 runs with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to put on a 300-run partnership, and then the 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar which is the current world record.

He also holds the record for the highest number of fairies from the start till being dismissed for a duck.

His maximum scores in ODIs and Test matches are 153 and 270 respectively. Uniquely, each of his double centuries in Tests has scored more than his previous double centuries. (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).

Also, Dravid also holds the record for contributing the highest percentage of runs scored in matches under the captaincy of the same captain, with the captain winning more than 20 Tests. India won the 21st Test match under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly. Dravid played his part in these victories, scoring a record average of 102,84 and completing 2571 runs in 32 innings with 9 centuries, three double centuries and 10 half-centuries.

He contributed about 23 percent of the total runs scored by India in those 21 matches, which is 1 out of every 4 runs scored by the team.

Only Ajit Agarkar is ahead of Dravid in this respect. He has scored 67 runs in just 21 balls.He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year 2000. Although primarily a defensive batsman, Dravid scored an unbeaten 50 off 22 balls (strike rate -227.27) against New Zealand at Hyderabad on 15 November 2003, the second fastest half-century among Indians.

In 2004, Dravid was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. On 7 September 2004, he was awarded the Inaugural Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council, ICC (pictured below.)

Dravid's average of 95.46 in the previous year made him the only Indian to remain in the Test team of the year.

On 18 March 2006, Dravid played his hundredth Test against England in Mumbai.

In 2005, a biography of Rahul Dravid by Devendra Prabhudesai, 'The Nice Guy Who Finished First' was published.

He was the only Indian named in the World One Day XI at the 2005 ICC Awards.

In 2006, it was announced that he would be the captain of the Indian team until the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

However, after the England series, he relinquished the India captaincy due to personal reasons. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over as the ODI captain. And Anil Kumble replaced him in Test matches.

He was dropped from the ODI squad in 2007 due to his poor performance in the series against Australia.

Dravid went on to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy and scored 218 against Mumbai.

In the first innings of the Perth Test in 2008, he scored 93, the highest score of the match, helping India win the series and make the series 1–2.

However, he was ignored by the selectors for the subsequent one-day trick series.

After a baron run in a Test match in 2008, there was a lot of media pressure on Dravid to either retire or be dropped.

In the second Test against England at Mohali, he scored 136 and scored a triple century with Gautam Gambhir.

Having completed 10000 runs in Test matches, he said that "It is a proud moment for sure.

For me, going forward, I dreamed of playing for India. When I look back, I have probably exceeded my expectations, as I have performed during the last 10-12 years.

I've never had the ambition to do so—because it's only a reflection of my longevity in the sport.

Twenty 20 Career

RS Dravid's record in Twenty20 matches
League	Matches	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg.
T20	1	31	31	0	0	31.00
IPL	89	2174	75*	0	11	28.23
Champions League Twenty20	15	282	71	0	1	23.50

Rahul Dravid played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2008, 2009 and 2010. He later played for Rajasthan Royals in the finals of the Champions League Twenty20 in 2013 and the Indian Premier League play-offs in 2013. Dravid announced his retirement from Twenty20 in September 2013 after playing Champions League Twenty20 in October 2013.

Personal record

Test

Dravid is the third Indian (sixth in the world) to have scored more than 10,000 Test runs.
He is involved in the partnership of maximum centuries in Test history - 76 (5 April 2009).
He has scored 23 per cent of the total runs scored by India in the 21 Test matches won under Ganguly's captaincy (with a batting average of 102.84), the highest number of matches won under the captaincy of the same captain in the history of Test cricket. The batsman has the highest percentage of contribution, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests.
The second longest streak in successive Tests since debut in which he skipped the 95th Test at Ahmedabad due to fever behind Adam Gilchrist (96).
He is the only player to have scored a century against every Test playing nation outside the country.
He is also involved in the highest partnership for any wicket for India outside the country, with Virender Sehwag scoring 410 runs against Pakistan in Lahore in 2006. (Also, it was the highest partnership between a captain and a vice-captain. Only Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad have scored more runs in partnership for India, scoring 413 against New Zealand at Chennai (6–11 January 1956))
Dravid is one of only three batsmen to score Test centuries in four consecutive innings. The other two are Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville. Dravid achieved this feat by scoring 115, 148, 217 and 100* in three matches against England and one match against West Indies respectively. Only Everton Weeks have scored a century in five consecutive innings to have the longest sequence of centuries.
Dravid scored 50 or more runs in 7 consecutive Test matches, behind only Tendulkar (8) among Indian batsmen. Iva Richards holds the record for the maximum with 11.
He is currently ranked second among batsmen who have scored maximum runs in Tests (6430 as of April 2009) only Sachin Tendulkar (7165) to have scored more Test runs.
He has played 150 innings of 94 Tests at number 3. He has scored more than 8000 runs in this position. Both these facts are recorded as world records.
He is the second Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar to score twin centuries twice in a Test. Gavaskar and Ponting are the only batsmen to have scored twin centuries thrice in a Test.
He is one of only two Indians to have scored 5 double centuries. (Each last is more than 200* against Zimbabwe, 217 against England, 222 against New Zealand, 233 against Australia, 270 against Pakistan).
Dravid holds the record for the maximum number of catches by a non-wicketkeeper (184) in the world.
Apart from the opening pair, partnering with Tendulkar, he has scored more runs than any other pair. They are the third-best in terms of partnerships by a pair in Test cricket.

ODI

Dravid is the third Indian (sixth in the world) to have scored more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.
Dravid has 83 half-centuries to his name in ODI cricket. In this case, he is at the fourth position after Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, and Kumar Sangakkara.

Partnership record

The only batsman who has been involved in a partnership of two ODIs, scoring more than 300 runs.
The first batsman to be involved in a 300-run partnership in a Cricket World Cup was in the 1999 World Cup match against Sri Lanka at Taunton with Sourav Ganguly.
He has been involved in all three highest fourth wicket partnerships against South Africa, two of them with Yuvraj Singh.
The highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket, he shared a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1999–2000.

World cup records

In the 1999 World Cup, he has been the leading run-scorer with a score of 461 runs.
Dravid has scored the second highest score (145) by a wicketkeeper in a World Cup after AC Gilchrist (149).
He is the only second wicket-keeper batsman after Zimbabwe's Dave Hodgton to score an ODI hundred in a World Cup.
He is the second batsman after Mark Waugh to score back to back hundred in the World Cup.

Captaincy record

He is at the fourth position with Sachin Tendulkar, under whose captaincy India won the maximum number of matches.

Other Records

He has not been dismissed for a duck in 120 consecutive ODIs.
Highest number of fifties after Sachin Tendulkar (93) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (83).

Captaincy

Achievements

Rahul Dravid is only the second Indian to have scored the highest runs in a single World Cup. (The first is Sachin Tendulkar - twice - 1996, 2003) He scored 461 runs in his first World Cup, the 1999 World Cup.
Rahul Dravid registered a historic victory in the Test series against him in the West Indies in 2006. Since 1971, India has never won a Test series in the West Indies. This was their first major series since 1986 (win against Zimbabwe in 2005) outside the Indian sub-continent.
Under Dravid's captaincy, the Indian team maintained the previous record of highest ODI series victories, with the Indian team winning consecutive (8) victories under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy in 2003. Later, under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team improved this record by winning nine consecutive times in 2008-2009.
During his captaincy, the Indian team broke West Indies' record of winning 14 consecutive One Day Internationals, Dravid was the captain of 15 of these 17 matches, while the remaining 2 were captained by Sourav Ganguly. This streak was broken on 20 May 2006 when India lost to West Indies by 1 run at Sabina Park, Jamaica.
Rahul Dravid is the first captain under whose leadership India defeated South Africa in a Test match on South African soil.
He was the third captain from India to win a Test series in England. This achievement was achieved after 21 years. The other two captains are Kapil Dev (1986) and Ajit Wadekar (1971).
He has scored 10,000 runs in both Tests and One Day Internationals, making him the third batsman after Tendulkar and Lara to achieve the feat. Ponting is the only other person to have done so.
He also holds the record for most catches in Test cricket by a non-wicket keeper.

Criticism

The most debated decision he took in March 2004, when he was playing the role of injured captain Sourav Ganguly. India's first innings was declared at one point when Sachin Tendulkar was 194 in 16 overs on the second day.
Rahul Dravid set a mixed record while leading India in Tests. India lost the Karachi Test in 2006, Pakistan won the series 1–0. In March 2006, India lost the Mumbai Test, the first time since 1985 that England won the Test in India. Flintoff's ability won the series 1–1. Although the defeat in Karachi was attributed to poor performance by many Indian batsmen, Mumbai's defeat was attributed to Dravid's erroneous decision to bowl first on a flat dry pitch. Due to which the situation worsened later and the Indians had a lot of trouble in taking runs.
After the 2008 game in the Indian Premier League, when Bangalore Royal Challengers finished seventh out of 8, Vijay Mallya criticized him for not striking the right balance in the team.
When India failed to reach the final of the DLF Cup, former all-rounder Ravi Shastri criticized Indian skipper Rahul Dravid for not being positive enough and Greg Chappell to take too many decisions.
When expected to respond, Dravid said Shastri was an 'unbiased critic' but could not 'enforce' the team's internal decision-making process.

Teams

International

India (present)
ACC Asian XI
ICC World XI

Indian first class

Karnataka
South Zone

Indian Premium League

Rajasthan Royals

English county

Kent
Scotland

Timeline

Born on 1973-11 January 1973 in Indore.
1984 - He attended a summer training camp at KSCA's Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Where former cricketer Keki Tarapore who had turned into a coach noticed his talent (another one was Keki Tarapore [Mumbai, deceased] which confused people about the name.
He scored his maiden century in an informal match for his school St. Joseph's team against St. Anthony.
Scored a double century for Karnataka's school team against Kerala.
Selected for Under 15 Karnataka team.
On the advice of Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and coach Keki Tarapore, he stopped keeping wickets.
1985 - Scored a century in the Kotanian Shield Inter School Competition (Junior) for St Joseph's High School against Baldwin High School for boys, making his mark in Bangalore as an amazing skill.
1991 - Ranji debut against Maharashtra.
1996 - Double century in Ranji final against Tamil Nadu
1996 - Test debut at Lord's, England, when Sanjay Manjrekar returned home injured and Navjot Singh Sidhu had a fight with captain Azharuddin after he scored 95 runs.
1997-Madan Test Hundred (148) Third Test, against Johannesburg, South Africa.
1997 - First ODI century (107), against Pakistan, Independence Cup, Chennai.
1998 - Dropped from ODI tournament in Bangladesh.
1999 - Hundreds in both innings (190, 103) against New Zealand at Hamilton
1999 - 461 runs in the World Cup including 2 centuries and three half-centuries.
1999 - Agreed with Kent for the 2000 English county tour.
2001 - Scored 180 for the fifth wicket while VVS Laxman scored 281 runs, scoring 376 runs as India beat Australia at the Eden Gardens and broke Australia's 16-Test winning streak.
2004 - Career-best 270 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
2005 - Leads Sourav Ganguly to success in Tests and becomes ODI captain.
2005 - "The Nice Guy Who Finished First" by Devendra Prabhudesai released by Coach Greg Chappell
2006 - Scored his first century as captain against Pakistan in Lahore.
2006 - Contributed to a remarkable 410-run partnership with Sehwag in Multan.
2006 - Leads India to Test success for the first time on South African soil.
2007 - Led India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies.
2007 - Resigns from Indian captaincy after England's tour of India.
2007 - Dropped from the ODI squad after a poor series against Australia.
Reaching the historic score of 10000 in Tests in the first Test match of the series against South Africa in Chennai on March 29, 2008–29
In the third Test against New Zealand at Wellington from 2009–6 April, he set the record for catches in Test cricket by completing 182 catches.

Career Highlights

Test

Test Debut: Against England, Lord's, 1996.

Dravid's Test batting highest score of 270 was made against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. 2003-2004.
His best Test bowling figures came in 1 for 18 against West Indies, St. John's. 2001-2002.
He is the third Indian after Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar to score more than 10,000 Test runs.
He is the fastest batsman to score 9000 runs in the history of Test cricket. The former Indian captain broke Brian Lara's earlier record in his 176th innings against West Indies in 2006.
He has taken a maximum of 184 catches as a fielder, breaking Mark Waugh's earlier record of 181 runs when he took the catch of opening batsman Tim McLentosh while playing against New Zealand in the second innings of the third Test at Wellington's Basin Reserve.

One Day International

ODI debut: Sri Lanka, Singapore, 1995 -1996

Dravid's best ODI batting score of 153 was made against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1999–2000.
His best ODI bowling figures of 2 for 43 were scored in 1999–2000 against South Africa at Kochi.
Sixth player and third Indian to score 10000 runs. He broke the barrier to level the series 1-1, scoring 66 against Sri Lanka.

Achievements

Award

1999:1999 World Cup SEAT Cricketer.
2000: Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000.
2004: Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy Winner (awarded ICC Player of the Year) Awarded.
2004: Padma Shri.
2006: Captain of the ICC Test team.

Biography of Rahul Dravid, Age, Wife, Net Worth, Birthday, Stats, Son, Centuries, Height, Family, Ads, IPL, Kids, Cricinfo, Captaincy Records

Rahul Dravid

Private Life

Preparatory Year

International Career

Dravid in World Cup

Style

Twenty 20 Career

Personal record

Test

ODI