Rahul Dravid, born Jan. 11, 1973, is an Indian cricketer and a former captain of the Indian national cricket team. A regular member since 1986, Dravid is the third Indian batsman, after Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, to have scored 10,000 runs in test cricket. On Feb. 14, 2007, he became the sixth player in history and the third Indian since Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket.
In September 2007, he resigned as captain of India team. He is the captain as well as the Icon Player in the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League.
Is Rahul Dravid not a top batsman?
According to ICC, "The Wall," as he's known, did not deserve to be placed above the 30th rank in the new “Best Ever” ratings issued by the board. Whereas Kumara Sangakara, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Kevin Pietersen and Neil Harvey could easily find a berth for themselves in the Top 29. "The Master Blaster" Sachin is also not in the Top 20. Even he got the rank of 26th, according to ICC's all-time best test batsman rankings.
Rahul Dravid Comeback in Test Team
After a barren run in test matches in 2008, Dravid came under increasing media pressure to retire or be dropped. In the second test against England in Mohali, he scored 136, putting on a triple-century stand with Gautam Gambhir. This ton helped his team draw the test and clinched the series 1-0 against England.
"The Wall's" Personal Life
Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh into a Maharashtrian Deshastha family living in Karnataka. His paternal ancestors were Iyers from Thanjavur. He grew up in Bangalore, Karnataka. He speaks Marathi and Kannada. He has a younger brother, Vijay. Both the brothers grew up in a serious and simple middle-class atmosphere.
Dravid's father worked for Kissan Products Ltd., a company known for jams and preserves;thus he earned the nickname "Jammy" from his teammates at St. Joseph's, Bangalore. And his mother, Pushpa, was a professor of Architecture at Bangalore University.
Dravid has a degree in Commerce from St Joseph's College of Commerce Bangalore, Karnataka. On May 4, 2003, Dravid married Dr. Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur , and on Oct. 11, 2005, their son, Samit, was born.
Rahul's Personality
Rahul has been one of the main pillars of the Indian, batting with his blend of technical proficiency and stylish strokes. His strokes are so technically-sound, that he is called "the wall" of the Indian team. His batting style was regarded as slow for the ODI’s initially, but with his imaginative placing of the ball and innovative strokes, he made himself an integral part of the Indian team for both tests as well as ODI’s.
His temperament for both versions of the game is exemplary and has earned him respect from all the other players. He was verily the batsman of the 1999 World Cup with two hundreds and the highest aggregate. For this, he was named as Wisden Cricketer of the Year—one of the few Indians to receive this special accolade. His good, innocent looks make him very popular among the girls.
For sheer consistency, Dravid has few equals and has maintained a Test career average of over 50. His temperament is exemplary, his concentration legendary. A batsman who revels in a crisis, Dravid, against New Zealand in January 1999, joined the ranks of Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar as one of only three Indians to have scored a century in each innings in a test.
The poor run in Australia in 1999-2000 was only a passing phase, and he returned to top form the next season, including notching up his first double century in tests. Named as "The Wall" for obvious reasons, the modest, unassuming, and well-behaved Dravid is one of the most popular and instantly recognizable players in the cricket world.
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