RAHUL DRAVID

Personal life
Though often mistaken to be a Kannadiga, Rahul is actually a Maharashtrian Brahmin. The Dravid lineage can be traced back to the period of early British rule when Maharashtrians migrated to what are now Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.He speaks Marathi as his mother-tongue.He has a brother named Vijay. Dravid's father worked for Kissan, a company known for jams and preserves and thus he earned the nickname Jammy from his teammates at St. Joseph's, Bangalore. Rahul Dravid has a degree in commerce from St Joseph's College of Commerce.

On May 4, 2003, Rahul married Dr. Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur and on October 11, 2005, their son, Samit, was born. Dravid's family is residing in Bangalore in Karnataka state.


Early years
Having started to play cricket at the age of 12, Dravid played at the state level at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 level. Rahul first came to prominence whilst attending a summer coaching camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium where his talents were spotted by former cricketer Keki Tarapore who was coaching at the clinic. He went on to score a century on debut for his school team. Along with the batting, he was keeping wickets. However, he later stopped keeping wickets on advice from former Test players Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and Tarapore.

He was selected to make his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991 against Maharashtra in Pune (while still attending college at St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore), alongside future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, scoring 82 in a drawn match after batting in the No. 7 position. His first full season was in 1991-92, when he scored two centuries to finish with 380 runs at an average of 63.3 , and was selected for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy , for whom he has been subsequently chosen annually.


International career
Dravid had a disappointing start to his career making his debut in one-dayers against Sri Lankan cricket team in the Singer Cup in Singapore immediately after World Cup in March 1996, replacing Vinod Kambli. Subsequently he was dropped from the team until he was picked again for the tour of England when Sanjay Manjrekar was injured.

With Manjrekar sidelined, he then made his debut in the Second Test against England along with Sourav Ganguly, scoring 95 . He held his position on Manjrekar's return for the Third Test, scoring 84 . After moderate home series against Australia and South Africa, Dravid broke through on the 1996-97 tour of South Africa. He batted at No. 3 in the third Test in Johannesburg, scoring his maiden century with 148 and 81, the top score in each innings to claim his first man of the match award . He also finally made his first half-century against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in 1996, scoring 90 in his 10th ODI .

In the 18 months ending in mid-1998, he played in an away series against the West Indies, home and away series against Sri Lanka and a home series against Australia, he scored consistently, with 964 runs at an average of 56.7. He scored eleven half-centuries but was unable to convert them to triple figures. He scored his second century in late 1998 against Zimbabwe in a one-off Test match, top-scoring in both innings with 148 and 44, but was unable to prevent an Indian defeat. He then became the third Indian batsman after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar to score centuries in both innings of a match during the 1999 New Year's Test match against New Zealand with 190 and 103* to force a draw, batting for a total of 653 minutes. He had a moderate subcontinental season in early 1999, scoring 269 runs at 38.42 with one century before scoring 239 at 39.8 including a century against New Zealand in late 1999. This was followed by a poor away series against Australia and another poor home series against South Africa, accumulating just 187 runs at an average of 18.7. He then scored 200*, his first double century, against Zimbabwe in Delhi which along with 70* in the second innings helped India to victory. It was the first time he had passed 50 in 12 months and he followed this with a 162 in the following Test, giving him 432 runs in the two match series at an average of 432.


Dravid in World Cup
Dravid had a very successful 1999 Cricket World Cup scoring over 450 runs and he was the highest run getter in the VII world cup. He was vice captain during 2003 World cup where India reached finals, serving his team in the dual capacity of batsman and wicket keeper to accomodate additional batsman, a move that payed huge dividends for India. Dravid was captain during 2007 cricket world cup in West Indies. He and the Indian cricket team had a dismal 2007 Cricket World Cup Campaign. Dravid had scores of 14 (Bangladesh), 7* (Bermuda) and 60 (Sri Lanka).

In the later part of 2007, Dravid had a poor run scoring only 73 runs in 9 mathces at an average of 9.13. He was rested for the last ODI against Australia and subsequently dropped from the team for the matches against Pakistan. This is the second time he has been dropped from the team.


Style
With a strong technique, he has been the backbone for the Indian cricket team. Beginning with the reputation of being a defensive batsman who should be confined to Test cricket, he was dropped from ODIs as he was slow in making runs. Of late, however, Rahul Dravid has defied early perceptions to become the mainstay of the Indian batting line-up in ODIs as well as in Tests. His nickname of 'The Wall' in Reebok advertisements has now become a tribute to his consistency. Dravid has scored 23 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 58.75, including 5 double centuries. In one-dayers though he has an average of 40.05, and a strike rate of 70.70. He is one of the few Indians who average more at away matches than at home, averaging over 10 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches. As of 9 August, 2006, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 65.28 as against his overall Test average of 58.75, and his average for away ODI stands at 42.03 as against overall ODI average of 40.05. In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 78.72 in Tests and 53.40 in ODIs.

Dravid's sole Test wicket was that of Ridley Jacobs in the fourth Test against the West Indies during the 2001-2002 series. While he has no pretensions to being a bowler, Dravid often kept wicket for India in ODIs. He has since delegated the wicket-keeping gloves, first to Parthiv Patel and more recently to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dravid is now purely a batsman, one who has averaged 63.51 in matches played since 1 January, 2000.

Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record. He also holds the record for the greatest number of innings since debut before being dismissed for a duck. His highest scores in ODIs and Tests are 153 and 270 respectively. Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).

Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage(%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. [24] In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds - three of them double-centuries - and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored.


Rahul Dravid's career performance graph.He was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year 2000.

In 2004, Dravid was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. On 7 September, 2004, he was awarded the inaugural Player of the year award and the Test player of the year by the International Cricket Council, ICC (associated image below). Dravid's batting average of 95.46 in the past year has made him the only Indian to be in the Test team of the year. On 18th March, 2006, Dravid played his 100th Test against England in Mumbai.

In 2005, a biography of Rahul Dravid written by Devendra Prabhudesai was published, 'The Nice Guy Who Finished First'.

In the 2005 ICC Awards he was the only Indian to be named to the World one-day XI.

In 2006, it was announced that he would remain captain of the Indian team up to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

After the England Series however, he stepped down as captain of India due to personal reasons. M S Dhoni took over as ODI captain.

In 2007, he was dropped from the Indian ODI Squad following poor series against england and Australia. Dravid went back to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 218 against Mumbai.


Personal Records

Tests
Dravid has been involved in the most century partnerships in Test history - 65 (May 2007)
Dravid has the second highest Test batting average among those who have scored over 9,000 Test runs (May 2007)
Scored nearly 23% of the total runs put up by India (with a batting average of 102.84) in the 21 Test matches won under Ganguly's captaincy. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in Test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests.
Longest streak of consecutive Tests since debut (96)
Only player to score a century against every Test playing nation away from home (until the ICC decides to add more nations to the list of Test playing nations his record can only be equalled, not broken).
Involved in highest partnership made away from home for any wicket for India with vice captain Virender Sehwag of 410 runs vs Pakistan at Lahore in 2006 (the highest partnership between a captain and the vice captain).
He is the fastest to reach 9000 runs in Test cricket. In all he took 176 innings to do this, bettering the previous record set by Brian Lara by 1 innings.
Dravid is one among the only three batsmen to hit Test centuries in four consecutive innings. The other two are Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville. Dravid achieved this by hitting scores of 115, 148, 217 and 100* in three successive matches against England and one against the West Indies. Only Everton Weekes, with centuries in five consecutive innings, has achieved a longer sequence of consecutive Test hundreds.
With scores of 50 or more in 7 consecutive Tests Dravid bettered the previous Indian record of 50+ scores in 6 consecutive Tests for a single batsman. This record was shared by Vijay Hazare, Chandu Borde, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sadagoppan Ramesh. As of October 2006 this streak is unbroken.
He is currently joint 4th along with Brian Lara among batsmen who have scored most away runs in Tests (5288 as of August 9th 2006). Only Sachin Tendulkar, Allan Border and Vivian Richards have scored more away Test runs.
9th batsman to score twin hundreds in a Test twice, and only the 2nd Indian to do so, after Sunil Gavakar.
1st Indian to score 5 double hundreds, each bigger than the previous (200* vs Zimbabwe, 217 vs England, 222 vs New Zealand, 233 vs Australia, 270 vs Pakistan).

One Dayers
Partnership Records

The only batsman to have been involved in two ODI partnerships exceeding 300 runs.
First batsman to be involved in a 300 run partnership in a Cricket World Cup along with Sourav Ganguly in the 1999 World Cup match against Sri Lanka at Taunton.
Involved in all three highest 4th wicket partnerships against South Africa, two with Yuvraj Singh.
Involved in the highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket with a 331 run partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar vs New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999-2000.
World Cup Records

He was the leading run scorer in the 1999 World Cup with 461 runs.
Highest score by a wicketkeeper in a World Cup.
Captaincy Records

He is tied with Sachin Tendulkar in fourth place for having captained India in the most victorious matches
Has the highest ODI batting average as captain of 45.58 (as of 4/7/06), among all captains who have captained more than 10 ODIs.
Other Records

Has the record of not being dismissed on duck for 120 consecutive ODI matches
3rd Highest number of fifties, after Sachin Tendulkar (84) and Inzamam Ul Haq (83)

Captaincy
Achievements
Rahul Dravid led India to a historic Test series win, against the West Indies in their home soil in 2006. Since 1971, India had never won a Test series in the West Indies. This is also their first prominent series win outside the Indian subcontinent (barring the win against Zimbabwe in 2005) since 1986.
Under Dravid's captaincy the Indian team tied the previous record of most consecutive One-Day International wins for an Indian team thus equalling the record run that the Indian team had achieved under Sourav Ganguly in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa (8).
During his captaincy the Indian team broke the 14 match West Indies record for most consecutive won matches in One-Day Internationals while chasing a total. For this 17 match run, Dravid was the captain for 15 matches and Sourav Ganguly was the captain for the other two. This streak was broken on 5/20/06, when India lost to the West Indies by one run, at Sabina Park, Jamaica.
Rahul Dravid is the first captain to lead India to a Test match victory against South Africa on South African soil
He became only the third captain from India to win a Test series in England. This feat was achieved after 21 years. The other two captains being Kapil Dev (1986) and Ajit Wadekar (1971).

Criticism
One of Dravid's most debated decisions was taken in March 2004, when he was standing in as captain for an injured Sourav Ganguly. The Indian first innings was declared at a point when Sachin Tendulkar was at 194 with 16 overs remaining on Day 2.
Rahul Dravid has had a mixed record when leading India in Tests. India lost the Karachi Test in 2006, giving Pakistan the series 1-0. In March 2006, India lost the Mumbai Test, giving England its first Test victory in India since 1985, enabling Flintoff's men to draw the series 1-1. While the loss in Karachi could be put down to several Indian batsmen playing badly, the defeat in Mumbai was arguably the result of Dravid's decision to bowl first on a flat dry pitch which later deteriorated and ended with an Indian collapse in the run chase. [29]
After India failed to qualify for the Finals of the DLF Cup, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was criticised by former all-rounder Ravi Shastri who said that he was not assertive enough and let Greg Chappell make too many decisions[30]. When asked for a response, Dravid said that Shastri, while a 'fair critic', was 'not privy' to the internal decision-making process of the team.

Teams

International
India (current)
ACC Asian XI
ICC World XI

Indian first-class
Karnataka (current)

English county
Kent
Scotland

Timeline
1973 - Born 11 January 1973, in Indore
1984 - Attended a summer coaching camp at KSCA's Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, where his talents were spotted by former cricketer turned coach Keki Tarapore (There was another Keki Tarapore [Mumbai, deceased] with whom people confuse this gentleman who also passed on.)
Scores his first century in an unofficial match for his school team St. Joseph's against St. Anthony's.
Scores a double hundred for the Karnataka schools team which he smashed against Kerala.
Selected for the under-15 Karnataka team.
Stops keeping wickets on advice from Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and coach Keki Tarapore.
1985 - Gets recognised in Bangalore as a prodigy after becoming the first ever to score a century in the Cottonian Shield inter school tournament (Juniors) for St. Josephs High School against Baldwin Boys' High School, in the final.
1991 - Ranji debut against Maharashtra.
1996 - Double century in Ranji finals, vs. Tamil Nadu.
1996 - Test debut at Lords, England after Sanjay Manjrekar was injured and Navjot Singh Sidhu flew back home after a fracas with captain Azharuddin. Makes 95.
1997 - Maiden Test hundred (148), vs. South Africa, third Test, Johannesburg.
1997 - First one day hundred (107), vs. Pakistan, Independence Cup, Chennai.
1998 - Dropped from One Day squad for the ODI tournament in Bangladesh.
1999 - Hundred in both innings (190,103) against New Zealand in Hamilton.
1999 - Makes 461 runs, including three 50s and two 100s in World Cup.
1999 - Signs up with Kent for the 2000 English county season.
2001 - Scores 180, while V. V. S. Laxman makes 281, in a fifth-wicket stand of 376 as India defeat Australia at Eden Gardens, ending 16 Test-winning streak by Australia.
2004 - Career best 270 against Pakistan, at Rawalpindi.
2005 - Succeeds Sourav Ganguly as Test and ODI captain.
2005 - The Nice Guy Who Finished First by Devendra Prabhudesai, released by coach Greg Chappell.
2006 - Scores first century as captain, at Lahore, vs. Pakistan.
2006 - Leads India to snatch their first ever test victory on South African Soil.
2007 - Leads India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, held in West Indies.
2007 - After India's tour of England, resigns from Indian captaincy.
2007 - Dropped from the Indian ODI Squad after poor series against England and Australia.

Career highlights

Tests
Test Debut: vs England, Lord's, 1996


Dravid's best Test batting score of 270 was made against Pakistan, Rawalpindi, 2003-2004
His best Test bowling figures of 1 for 18 came against West Indies, St. John's, 2001-2002
He is only the third Indian to score over 8,000 Test runs, following Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Rahul Dravid is the fastest batsman in the history of Test cricket to make 9,000 runs. The Indian captain brought up the landmark in his 176th innings playing against West Indies in 2006 and broke the earlier record of Brian Lara

One-Day Internationals
ODI Debut: vs Sri Lanka, Singapore, 1995-1996


Dravid's best ODI batting score of 153 was made against New Zealand, Hyderabad, 1999-2000
His best ODI bowling figures of 2 for 43 came against South Africa, Kochi, 1999-2000
6th player and 3rd Indian to score 10,000 runs. He broke the barrier by scoring 66 against Sri Lanka and levelling the series 1-1.

Achievements

Awards
1999: Ceat Cricketer of the 1999 World Cup
2000: Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000[32]
2004: Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy Winner (Awarded for ICC Player of the Year)[33]
2004: Padma Shri[34]
2004: ICC Test Player of The Year[33]
2006: Captain of the ICC's Test Team[35]

Test Cricket Awards
Test Match - Man of the Series Awards:

# Series Season Series Performance
1 India in England Test Series 2002 602 (4 Matches, 6 Innings, 3x100, 1x50); 10 Catches
2 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (India in Australia Test Series) 2003/04 619 Runs (4 Matches, 8 Innings, 1x100, 3x50); 4 Catches
3 India in West Indies Test Series 2006 496 Runs (4 Matches, 7 Innings, 1x100, 4x50); 8 Catches

Test Matches - Man of the Match Awards:

S No Opponent Venue Season Match Performance
1 South Africa Wanderers, Johannesburg 1996/97 1st Innings: 148 (21x4); 1 Catch
2nd Innings: 81 (11x4); 1 Catch
2 West Indies Bourda, Georgetown 1996/97 1st Innings: 92 (8x4, 1x6)
3 England Headingley, Leeds 2002/03 1st Innings: 148 (23x4)
2nd Innings: 3 Catches
4 England The Oval, London 2002/03 1st Innings: 217 (28x4); 3 Catches
5 New Zealand Motera, Ahmedabad 2003/04 1st Innings: 222 (28x4, 1x6); 2 Catches
2nd Innings: 73 (6x4); 1 Catch
6 Australia Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 2003/04 1st Innings: 233 (23x4, 1x6); 1 Catch
2nd Innings: 72* (7x4); 2 Catches
7 Pakistan Rawalpindi 2003/04 1st Innings: 270 (34x4, 1x6)
2nd Innings: 1 Catch
8 Pakistan Eden Gardens, Kolkata 2004/05 1st Innings: 110 (15x4, 1x6); 1 Catch
2nd Innings: 135 (15x4)
9 West Indies Sabina Park, Kingston 2006 1st Innings: 81 (10x4)
2nd Innings: 68 (12x4); 1 Catch


ODI Matches
Rahul Dravid has never won a Man of the Series award in ODI Cricket
ODI Matches - Man of the Match Awards:

S No Opponent Venue Season Match Performance
1 Pakistan Toronto 1996 46 (93b, 3x4)
2 South Africa Kingsmead, Durban 1996/97 84 (94b, 5x4, 1x6); 1 Catch
3 New Zealand Taupo 1998/99 123* (123b, 10x4, 1x6)
4 New Zealand Eden Park, Auckland 1998/99 51 (71b, 5x4, 1x6)
5 West Indies Toronto 1999 77 (87b, 6x4, 2x6); 4 Catches
6 Zimbabwe Bulawayo 2001 72* (64b, 7x4, 1x6)
7 Sri Lanka Edgbaston, Birmingham 2002 64 (95b, 5x4, 1x6); 1 Catch
8 UAE Dambulla 2004 104 (93b, 8x4); 1 Catch, 1 Stumping
9 West Indies Dambulla 2005 52* (65b, 7x4), 1 Catch
10 Sri Lanka Vidharba CA Ground, Nagpur 2005/06 85 (63b, 8x4, 1x6); 1 Catch
11 South Africa Mumbai 2005/06 78* (106b, 10x4)
12 Pakistan Abu Dhabi 2005/06 92 (116b, 10x4); 1 Catch
13 West Indies Sabina Park, Kingston 2006 105 (102b, 10x4, 2x6); 1 Catch
14 England Edgbaston 2007 92* (63b, 7x4)


Controversies

Ball-Tampering Incident
In January 2004 Dravid was found guilty of ball tampering during an ODI with Zimbabwe. Match referee Clive Lloyd adjudged the application of an energy sweet to the ball as a deliberate offence although Dravid himself denied this was his intent. Lloyd emphasised that television footage conclusively showed the star Indian batsman intentionally applying a lozenge to the ball during the Zimbabwean innings on Tuesday night at the Gabba, which was in breach of clause 2.10 of the ICC's Code of Conduct.

Indian coach John Wright came out in defence of Dravid, stating that "It was an innocent mistake". Dravid did not comment on the incident due to ICC regulations, but former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly also stated that Dravid's act was "just an accident". Ricky Ponting had his own take on the incident, asserting "I don't think you'll see us doing anything like that,"


Business Interests
Rahul Dravid has 2 biographies written on his career:

Rahul Dravid - A Biography written by Vedam Jaishankar (ISBN 817476481X). Publisher: UBSPD Publications. Date: January 2004[38]
The Nice Guy Who Finished First written by Devendra Prabhudesai. Publisher: Rupa Publications. Date: November 2005[39]

Endorsments
Reebok: 1996 - present[40]
Pepsi: 1997 present[41]
Kissan: Unknown[42]
Castrol: 2001 - present[43]
Hutch: 2003
Karnataka Tourism: 2004[44]
Max Life: 2005 - present[45]
Bank of Baroda: 2005 - present[46]
Citizen: 2006 - present[47]
Skyline Construction: 2006 - present[48]
Sansui: 2007 - present[49]
Gillette 2007 - now

Social Commitments:

Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA)
UNICEF Supporter and AIDS Awareness Campaign

sachin tendulkar biography

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