About Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, the leader of the Indian cricket team who has surpassed and also created many remarkable records, is certainly man with a difference. Dravid was born on 11th January 1973 in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India. His complete name is Rahul Sharad Dravid though he is well-known with nicknames such as Jammy and The Wall, attributed to him for different reasons.

Rahul did his schooling from St. Jospeh’s Boys High School, Bangalore and graduated from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Dravid started playing cricket at an early age of 12. He played for the state in under-15, under-17 and under-19 cricket tournaments. Soon Dravid played the County cricket for Scotland and Kent. At that time his coach was Keki Tarapore, an Indian cricketer who played in one test match in 1948. In 1991 Dravid also led Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy and made a double century in the final match. In 1996 Rahul got an opportunity to play international cricket. He made his test debut against England at Lords in the 2nd Test match of India’s tour of England. In the same year Dravid’s ODI test debut was against Sri Lanka at Singapore in the Singer Cup tournament. Rahul was one amongst he Wisden cricketers of the year 2000.



In the world of cricket Rahul is known for his consistent batting and active leadership. He is one of the best defensive batsman India could ever produce. This defensive style of playing fetched him the nickname of ‘The Wall’. He is blessed with immense skill to rotate the strike and play with front foot defence, neither scoring runs nor getting out. Rahul’s brilliant strategy of playing cricket has enabled him to create some outstanding records in the cricket world. Dravid has scored 23 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 57.65 which included 5 double centuries while in one-dayers he has an average of 40.16 at a strike rate of 70. He has played a total of 104 test matches and 291 ODIs and the runs scored are 9049 and 9510 respectively. Dravid is also the world record holder for the highest percentage of runs in the matches won under a single captain, where the captain himself has won more than 20 tests. Under the captainship of Bengali boy Saurav Ganguly, Indian team played 21 matches out of which Rahul Dravid played in every single wins and scored a record average of 102.84 and made 2571 runs, with nine hundreds- three of them double-centuries- and ten fifties in 32 innings. Dravid made a great contribution of 23% of the total runs scored by India in those 21 matches. It is only due his superb and consistent performance that Dravid was first made the vice-captain and then the captain of Indian team. Apart from batting Rahul has also done wicket keeping in many matches. His innocent face and distinct attitude has made him the heartthrob of females all over the world.

Lately the Indian skipper and his boys played a scintillating test innings in and against West Indies and brought home the Cup. Prior to this Dravid along with Vireder Sehwag was crowned the hero of the Allianz Cup 2006 (Pakistan v India Test Series) as the dup played a record breaking innings on Pakistan soil.

Latest News:

Rahul Dravid expects a tough and healthy show in Colombo

The Indian skipper Rahul Dravid said that he hopes a healthy and tough competition in the forthcoming triangular series with South Africa and the host Sri Lanka. According to Rahul both the rivals were a force to reckon with in world cricket.

Addressing a media conference Rahul said that “Sri Lanka is playing very good cricket at the moment and are always difficult opponents at home. And let us not forget South Africa! they are not number two team in the world for nothing. Any side that chases down a 400-plus score has to be very explosive. South Africa’s last one dayer in April saw them surpass world champions Australia.”

Dravid also admitted that India will be different rivals from the side that India thrashed 6-1 at home last year. To him each match is a new contest to win as he said that “we had a great series with them last year but that does not give us any advantage. It’s a new series, a new game and we will have to be at our best to win.”

Praises for Dravid and flaks for Lara

Former England captain Mike Atheron has extolled the Indian skipper for his superb performance during India’s latest West Indies tour of the Caribbean. But on the same hand he criticized the West Indies captain Brian Lara for not playing well. Writing in The Telegraph, Atherton said, “for Dravid there were the spoils of victory….for Lara there were only recriminations, as he blamed a losing start to his third tenure on the selectors, the pitches and just about everything else except his own leadership.” He further added that “Dravid’s role in India’s victory in the final Test match at the Jamaica’s Sabina Park was immense…for Dravid the trsm ethic is everything. You can see it in the way he plays- every innings is fashioned according to the situation and the needs of the team- and you see it in the way he conducts himself, which is almost entirely without ego, a rare trait in great sportsmen”.



Rahul Dravid in favor of Twenty-20 in home cricket

After a remarkable performance in the West Indies, nowadays the Indian skipper Rahul Dravid is putting his heart and soul for the Twenty-20 (the latest form of cricket) to be adopted in domestic cricket. Since the introduction of this new version the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has opposed it. But Rahul feels that the latest formula can be conveniently implemented with no change in the traditional 50-50 limited overs game. In an interview with the BBC sports Mr. Dravid said that “ For an event like this to play for the victims of the earthquake was fantastic. But we need to be careful that Twenty20 does not dilute the 50 over cricket game.” He further added that since there is not much domestic competition in our country so the concept can very well be accepted here.

Dravid is also happy and excited about Sachin Tendulkar’s improving fitness and his return to cricket after Tendulkar played a wonderful innings in London, made a half century and remained not-out.