Happy Birthday Mr.Dependable

 
        Rahul Dravid, the name may not feature in the current Indian Team, but it is the name that is still solid over the history of Indian cricket and that is far present in every Indian fans mind and heart.. Rahul Dravid celebrating his 40th birthday today..He may be the man of few words, but his statistics and records speaks a lot..

Here are some of the milestones in Rahul Dravid :

          --* Dravid was one among the three batsman to score hundred in four consecutive innings..Those scores were 115,148,217 against England and the fourth one was 101* against West Indies in the year 2002..

          --* He has a record of not getting out on a duck for 120 consecutive ODI innings..

          --* His highest score of 270 against Pakistan was the longest innings played by an Indian batsman in terms of minutes..He batted for 12 hours..

          --* Dravid holds a world record as involved in more than 85 century partnerships with 20 different partners..He has been involved in 20 century partnerships along with the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar..

          --* He is the first and only batsman to score a century in all Test playing nations..

          --* Dravid holds the world record for most number of catches in Test cricket numbering more than 200 catches. He is the only player to cross this mark. He has took 210 catches in Test Cricket.

          --* As on December 14,2011, Dravid became the first non-Australian cricketer to address at the Don Bradman Oration at Canberra..Lets check many more statistics in posts to come later..

         

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAHUL SIR :)

Here's the image that I have done for Dravid Sir in photo editor :

Dravid at the Lord's - His first Test Innings

  Here is the debut Test Innings of Rahul Dravid at the Lord's.. He batted at no.7 position scoring 95 runs..He was brought in to the team as a replacement for Sanjay Manjrekar in the second Test against England.. It was on 20th June,1996 Dravid made his Test Debut..

Video Courtesy : YouTube

Dravid's Debut in Cricket - Part 2

       As like 1992-93 season, Dravid went on with his impressive knocks in 1993-94 season as well.. He scored 93 runs for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy under the captaincy of Sanjay Manjrekar against punjab.. Later on he represented South zone in the Duleep Trophy scoring 67 and 148 against central zone..This made the national selectors to call Dravid for replacing Manoj Prabakar and Nayan Mongia due to some slow batting issues in the tri-series comprising West Indies and New Zealand.. Despite being selected for the national team, Dravid couldn't make into the playing eleven amidst many stalwarts in the team.. 

Continuing back in first class matches, Dravid was playing his part for SAARC cup, Board President's XI..At the end of 1994-95 season, Dravid scored more than 1000 first class runs.. Then comes the 1995-96 Ranji season  in which Dravid has an average of 80.66 in just 11 matches with 5 centuries and 3 half-centuries.. Despite having loads of runs under his bat, Dravid couldn't make into the selection of World Cup 1996.. It was all because the presence of some experienced players like Sidhu, Kambli, Ajay Jadeja, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin Tendulkar and the captain Azharuddin.. Later Dravid was selected for Singer Cup series..Dravid made his ODI debut on 3rd April, 1996 against Sri Lanka in which he scored only 3 runs...Then he got to score 107 runs, his maiden ODI century against Pakistan in 1997 at M.A.Chidambaram stadium, Chennai.