Guwahati: Players will come and go, the Wall remains. That’s the legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid for you, who turned 48 today.
Known as ‘The Wall’, Dravid was a versatile team player, who gave his all.
He was one of the highly respected players on and off the field, having scripted a plethora of records.
Rahul Dravid, known as Rahul to the cricketing fraternity was born on January 11, 1973, at Indore, Madhya Pradesh and learned his cricketing lessons in Karnataka.
He was nicknamed The Wall by cricketing experts for his ability to stay at the crease.
Dravid made his Test debut against England at Lord’s in June 1996 and made 95. In the same match, another debutant Sourav Ganguly scored a hundred.
Dravid has scored five double hundreds – 200 not out against Zimbabwe at Delhi in November 2000, 217 against England at The Oval in September 2002, 222 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in October 2003, 233 against Australia at Adelaide in December 2003 and 270 against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in April 2004. His five double hundreds are in the progressive order of runs scored which makes him the only batsman to perform such a feat in the annals of Test cricket.
We look at 5 interesting numbers from his Test career.
13265: Dravid’s Aggregate for India in Test Cricket
Rahul Dravid aggregated 13265 runs for India in 163 Tests (he played one Test for the ICC) at an average of 52.63 including 36 hundreds and 63 fifties. It is the second-highest aggregate for an Indian batsman in Test cricket after Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid is one of the four Indians (the others being Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Kohli) who belong to the 50-plus average Club in Test cricket (min. 2000 runs).
8: Number of Series-Defining Performances in his Test career
Dravid gave 8 series-defining performances (SD) in his Test career. An SD is a high impact performance in a Test match which helps the team win the series or draw level from behind. His greatest innings came after India followed on at the Eden Gardens against Australia in 2001. Dravid made 180 and changed the match on its head with VVS Laxman. India went on to win a historic Test. His 148 on a difficult pitch at Leeds in 2002 helped India draw level the series at 1-1. Dravid’s 233 and 72 at the Adelaide Oval in 2003 is already the stuff of legend. India won the Test by 4 wickets.
68.8: Dravid’s Batting Average in England
Dravid had an aggregate of 1376 runs in 13 Tests in England. He recorded 6 hundreds and 4 fifties in testing conditions where the swing and seam has troubled some of the best of all-time. His average of 68.8 in England is the highest for an Indian batsman (min. 500 runs). He is followed by Ganguly (65.35) and Tendulkar (54.31). In fact, Dravid’s average in England was the highest for any sub-continent batsman in the country. Saleem Malik followed with an average of 66.5.
63.83: Dravid’s Batting Average in New Zealand
Dravid had an excellent record in the trying conditions in New Zealand too. He scored 766 runs in 7 Tests with 2 hundreds and 5 fifties in New Zealand. His average of 63.83 in New Zealand is the fourth-highest for a batsman from the sub-continent (min. 500 runs) after Javed Miandad, Mohammad Azharuddin and Shakib Al Hasan.
2001-2006: The Golden Period for Dravid in Test Cricket
Dravid was at the peak of his batting prowess between 2001 and 2006. During this period, he aggregated 5776 runs in 66 Tests at an average of 60.16. 15 of his hundreds came in this time-frame. Most of his series-defining performances came during this period and he was the second-highest impact batsman in the world after Inzamam-ul-Haq in this time-frame.
