India cricket fraternity sends wishes to Rahul Dravid as he celebrates his 49th birthday

Rahul Dravid played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India from 1996-2012.

Team India head coach and former captain Rahul Dravid is celebrating his 49^th birthday today on January 11 and received wishes from the fellow Indian cricket fraternity on social media. Dravid was born in 1973 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, but was brought up in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Regarded as one of the best technically profound batters of his time, he was named one of the five best cricketers of the year by Wisden in 2000 and was nicknamed “The Wall” for his stoic defensive technique and unwavering concentration.

Once considered a Test batter during the initial years of his career, Dravid went onto etch records in ODI cricket and later in T20 franchise 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.

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In 164 Tests, Dravid made 13288 runs with 36 centuries with the best score of 270 and average of 52.31. He also captained India from 2005-2007, leading the team to their maiden Test win in South Africa and a Test series win in England.

In 344 ODI matches, the right-hander made 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 made more than 450 runs in the 1999 World Cup, was part of India’s 2003 World Cup team which played the finals, and captained India in the 2007 World Cup. He retired from all forms of the game in 2012.

He also played in IPL, leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals franchises.

After retiring from the game, Rahul Dravid decided to stay connected to Indian cricket, taking the reins of the U19 team, taking them to the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup, and then winning the tournament in 2018 in New Zealand. He was also the head of the NCA in Bengaluru.

As of now, Dravid is the head coach of the Indian team, replacing Ravi Shastri, whose tenure ended after the T20 World Cup 2021. India defeated New Zealand at home in Tests and T20Is and won one Test in South Africa, in Centurion.

Today, as he celebrates his 49^th birthday, the Indian cricket fraternity took to Twitter to wish him lots of love.

Here are the tweets: