Rahul Dravid played 164 Tests, 334 ODIs and 1 T20I for India from 1996-2012.
Dravid has been named in the five best cricketers of the year by Wisden in 2000 and was nicknamed “The Wall” for his stoic defensive technique and unwavering concentration. Though labeled as a Test batsman during his early days of international cricket Dravid made a name for himself in ODIs and later T20 cricket as well.
Rahul Dravid made his India Test debut in 1996 at Lord’s along with Sourav Ganguly and scored 95 in a brilliant partnership. He made his ODI debut in Singapore against Sri Lanka earlier in the same year.
Steve Waugh praises Rahul Dravid, says “he was as important as Sachin to India”
Dravid first made his name in ODIs by scoring more than 450 runs in the 1999 World Cup for India and went onto make 10889 runs with 12 centuries and 83 fifties in 344 one-day matches from 1996-2011. His best score was 153 and he is the only batsman to be part of two triple-century partnerships in 50-over cricket.
He was part of India’s 2003 World Cup team which played the finals and captained India in the 2007 World Cup.
Rahul Dravid says, "love for cricket kept me going, despite ups and downs"
He was also the captain of the Indian team which beat Pakistan in Pakistan in two of the three Tests in 2003-04. His best innings by far remain the 180 against Australia in the 2001 Kolkata Test, which India won after being asked to follow on, and the 233 and 72* in Adelaide Test of 2003-04 series which gave India their first win in Australia after more than 30 years.
Dravid retired from international cricket in 2012.
He also played in IPL, leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals franchises. He then coached the India U19 team to the World Cup win in 2018 and is currently the head of the NCA in Bengaluru.
Today, as he celebrates his 48th birthday, the Indian cricket fraternity took to Twitter to wish him lots of love.
Here are the tweets: