Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid is an Indian former cricket player, ex-captain and ex-head coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is colloquially known as Mr. Dependable and often referred to as The Wall. He won the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy as a member of the Indian team and guided the Indian team to victory in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup as the head coach.
Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy, and the head coach of the India Under-19 and India A teams. Under his tutelage, the Under-19 team finished as runners-up at the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and won the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Under his coaching, Indian cricket team finished as runners-up at the 2023 Cricket World Cup and 2023 ICC World Test Championship final and were semifinalist at the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Dravid was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2000 and received the Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. In December 2011, he was the first non-Australian cricketer to deliver the Bradman Oration in Canberra. As of July 2025, he is the fifth-highest run scorer in Test cricket, and was the first player to score a century in all ten Test-playing countries. He holds the records for the most balls faced in Test cricket and the longest time spent batting in Tests.
David retired from One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket in August 2011, and from Test and first-class cricket the following year. In July 2018, he became the fifth Indian cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Dravid was born to a Marathi-speaking Brahmin family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His family later moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, where he was raised. His mother tongue is Marathi. Dravid's father, Sharad Dravid, worked for a company that produces jams and preserves, giving rise to the later nickname Jammy. His mother, Pushpa, was a professor of architecture at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in Bangalore. Dravid has a younger brother named Vijay.Rahul Dravid attended St. Joseph's Boys High School and earned a degree in commerce from St Joseph's College of Commerce. He was selected to India's national cricket team while working towards an MBA at the St Joseph's College of Business Administration. He is fluent in Marathi, Kannada, English and Hindi.
Formative years and domestic career
Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 12 and represented Karnataka at the under-15, the under-17, and the under-19 levels. Former cricketer Keki Tarapore first noticed Dravid's talent while coaching at a summer camp in the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Dravid scored a century for his school team. He also played as wicket-keeper.Dravid made his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991, while still attending college. Playing alongside future India teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath against Maharashtra in Pune, he scored 82 runs in the match, which ended in a draw. He followed it up with a century against Bengal and three successive centuries after. Dravid's first full season took place in 1991–92, when he scored two centuries and finished up with 380 runs at an average of 63.30, resulting in his selection to the South Zone cricket team in the Duleep Trophy. Dravid caught the national team selectors' attention with his positive performances for India A in the home series against England A in 1994–95.
International career
Debut
Dravid received his first call to the Indian national cricket team in October 1994 for the last two matches of the Wills World Series. However, he could not break into the playing eleven and had to return to the domestic circuit. Despite a stellar show in domestic cricket, Dravid was not selected for the Indian team for the 1996 World Cup, prompting an Indian daily newspaper to run an article with the headline – "Rahul Dravid gets a raw deal".He eventually made his international debut on 3 April 1996 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in the Singer Cup held in Singapore immediately after the 1996 World Cup, replacing Vinod Kambli. He wasn't particularly successful with the bat, scoring only three runs before being dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan, but took two catches in the match. He followed it up with another failure in the next game, scoring only four runs before being run out against Pakistan.
In contrast to his ODI debut, his Test debut was rather successful. He was selected for the Indian squad touring England on the backdrop of a consistent performance in domestic cricket for five years. Fine performances in the tour games including fifties against Gloucestershire and Leicestershire failed to earn him a place in the team for the First Test. He finally made his Test debut at Lord's on 20 June 1996 against England in the Second Test of the series at the expense of injured senior batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. Manjrekar, who was suffering from an ankle injury, was to undergo a fitness test on the morning of the Second Test. Dravid had already been informed that he would play if Manjrekar failed the test. Manjrekar subsequently failed the test. Ten minutes before the toss, Sandeep Patil, the Indian coach, informed Dravid that he was indeed going to make his debut that day. Patil recalled years later:
Coming in to bat at no. 7, he forged important partnerships, first with another debutant Sourav Ganguly and then with Indian lower order, securing a vital first innings lead for his team. Dravid scored 95 runs missing out on a debut hundred as he walked off after getting caught behind to a Chris Lewis delivery. During this match, he also took his first catch in Test cricket to dismiss Nasser Hussain off the bowling of Srinath. In the next tour game against British Universities, Dravid scored a hundred. He scored another fifty in the first innings of the Third Test. Dravid concluded a successful debut series with an average of 62.33 from two Test matches.
1996–98
Dravid's early years in international cricket mirrored his international debut. He had contrasting fortunes in the long and the shorter format of the game. While he was successful in Test cricket, he struggled with ODIs.After his Test debut in England, Dravid played in the one-off Test against Australia in Delhi – his first Test in India. Batting at no. 6, he scored 40 runs in the first innings. Dravid batted at no. 3 position for the first time in the First Test of the three-match home series against South Africa in Ahmedabad in November 1996. He failed to perform well in the series, scoring only 175 runs at an average of 29.16.
Two weeks later, India toured South Africa for a three–match Test series. Chasing a target of 395 runs in the First Test, the Indian team got bowled out for 66 runs on the Durban pitch that provided excessive bounce and seam movement. Dravid, batting at no. 6, was the only Indian batsman who reached double figures in the innings, scoring 27 not out. He was promoted to the no. 3 slot again in the second innings of the Second Test. He almost won the Third Test for India with his maiden test hundred in the first innings, scoring 148 runs and another 81 runs in the second innings at Wanderers before the thunderstorms, dim light and Cullinan's hundred helped South Africa draw the match. Dravid's performance in this Test earned him his first Man of the Match award in Test cricket. He top scored for India in the series with 277 runs at an average of 55.40.
Dravid continued in the same vein in the West Indies, where he once again top scored for India in the five–match Test series, aggregating 360 runs at an average of 72.00, including four fifties. 92 runs scored in the first innings of the fifth match in Georgetown earned him a joint Man of the Match award along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul. With this series, Dravid concluded the 1996-97 Test season, topping the international runs chart with 852 runs from 12 matches at an average of 50.11, with six fifties and a hundred.
Dravid continued his successful run, scoring seven fifties in the next eight Tests that included fifties in six consecutive innings, becoming only the second Indian to do so after Gundappa Vishwanath. By the end of 1997-98 Test season, he had scored 15 fifties in 22 Tests including four scores of nineties but just one hundred.
During the 1998-99 Test season, Dravid scored 752 runs in seven Tests at an average of 62.66, that included four hundreds and one fifty. In the process, he topped the runs chart for India for the season. He scored the first of the four hundreds during the Zimbabwe tour. Dravid top scored in both innings against Zimbabwe, scoring 118 and 44 runs respectively; however, India lost the one-off Test.
The Zimbabwe tour was followed by a tour to New Zealand. The First Test having been abandoned without a ball being bowled, the series started for Dravid with the first duck of his Test career in the first innings of the Second Test and ended with hundreds in both innings of the Third Test in Hamilton. He scored 190 and 103 not out in the first and the second innings respectively, becoming only the third Indian batsman, after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar, to score a century in both innings of a Test match. Dravid topped the runs table for the series with 321 runs at an average of 107.00, although India lost the series 0–1.
Later that month, India played a two Test home series against Pakistan. Dravid didn't contribute much with the bat. India lost the First Test but won the Second Test in Delhi with Kumble's historic 10-wicket haul. Dravid played his part in the 10-wicket haul by taking a catch to dismiss Mushtaq Ahmed, who was Kumble's eighth victim in the innings. The India-Pakistan Test series was followed by the 1998–99 Asian Test Championship. India went on to lose the riot-affected First Test of the championship against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens. India went to Sri Lanka to play the Second Test of the championship. Dravid scored his fourth hundred of the season at Colombo in the first innings of the match. He also effected a successful run out of Russel Arnold during Sri Lankan innings fielding at short leg. On the fourth morning, Dravid was injured while fielding at the same position when the ball from Jayawardene's pull shot struck his face through the helmet grill. He didn't come out to bat in the second innings due to the injury. The match ended in a draw as India failed to qualify for the Finals of the championship.
In a stark contrast to his Test career, Dravid struggled to make a mark in the ODIs. Between his ODI debut in April 1996 and the end of 1998, Dravid regularly found himself in and out of the ODI team.
Dravid's first success in his ODI career took place in the 1996 'Friendship' Cup against Pakistan in the tough conditions of Toronto. He emerged as the highest scorer of the series with 220 runs in five matches at an average of 44.00 and a strike rate of 68.53. He won his first ODI Man of the Match award for the 46 runs scored in the low scoring third game of the series. He top scored for India in the Standard Bank International One-Day Series 1996/97 in South Africa with 280 runs from eight games at an average of 35.00 and a strike rate of 60.73, the highlight being a Man of the Match award-winning performance in the Final of the series, although his team lost the match. He was the second highest run scorer for India in the four-match bilateral ODI series in the West Indies in the 1996–97 season with 121 runs at an average of 40.33 and a strike rate of 57.61. Dravid scored his first ODI hundred in the 1997 Pepsi Independence Cup against Pakistan in Chennai that came in a losing cause. Dravid top scored for India in the quadrangular event with 189 runs from three games at an average of 94.50 and a strike rate of 75.60. However, India failed to qualify for the Final of the series.
Dravid's achievements in the ODIs were dwarfed by his failures in the shorter format of the game. 14 runs from two games in the 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup; 20 runs from two innings in the Singer World Series; 65 runs from four innings in the 1997 'Friendship' Cup; 88 runs from four games in the 1998 Coca-Cola Triangular Series including a 22-ball five runs and a 21-ball one run innings, both against Bangladesh; 32 runs from four games in the 1998 'Friendship' Cup; a slew of such poor performances often forced him to the sidelines of the India ODI squad. By the end of 1998, Dravid had scored 1,709 runs in 65 ODIs at an average of only 31.64 with a low strike rate of 63.48.
By now, Dravid had been branded as a Test specialist. While he continued a successful run in Test cricket, he struggled in the ODIs. He drew criticism for not being able to adjust his style of play to the needs of ODI cricket and his lack of attacking capability. Dravid subsequently increased his range of strokes and adapted his batting style to suit the requirements of ODI cricket. He learned to pace his innings cleverly without going for the slogs.
Dravid's ODI success began during the 1998-99 New Zealand tour. He scored a run-a-ball hundred in the first match of the bilateral ODI series that earned him his third Man of the Match award in ODIs. His team lost the match. However, his effort of 51 runs from 71 balls in the Fourth ODI resulted in India's victory and earned him his second Man of the Match award of the series. He became the top scorer of the series with 309 runs from five games at an average of 77.25 and a strike rate of 84.65. Dravid scored a hundred against Sri Lanka in the 1998/99 Pepsi Cup at Nagpur, scoring 116 of 118 deliveries. In the next match against Pakistan, he bowled four overs and took the wicket of Saeed Anwar. This was his first wicket in international cricket.
Dravid scored two fifties in the 1998–99 Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah, one each against England and Pakistan. Standing-in as the substitute wicket-keeper in the third match of the series for Nayan Mongia, who was injured during keeping, Dravid effected two dismissals. He first stumped Graeme Hick off Sunil Joshi's bowling, who became Dravid's first victim as a wicket-keeper, and then caught Neil Fairbrother off Ajay Jadeja's bowling. He top scored for India in the tournament, though his last innings of the series was a golden duck against Pakistan in the Final.