Rahul Dravid's Speech as a Chief guest at BITS Pilani Convocation 2013, Goa

Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani) is one of the well known deemed institutions in India. The institution has its campuses at Hyderabad, Goa, Pilani and in Dubai. This institute is said to be fully residential and it was started in 2004 and was officially inaugurated in 2006. The first ever convocation of the institute in Goa campus was said to be held in 2011. And the convocation for the year 2013 was held on 11th of this month(11-Aug-2013). The highlight of the convocation ceremony was the presence of Mr.Consistency 'Rahul Dravid' :) Just imagine how lucky were those 2013 batch graduates of BITS !!!!!

It is obvious that every graduate would be delighted about his/her convocation day, but that day at BITS with Rahul Dravid as chief guest would have been a double delight for everyone there. To have such an inspiring person who has earned respect both on and off the field , is really a remarkable and memorable moment for all those who aspire to succeed in life.

Here I'm sharing his speech which lasted only about 12 mins, but he has conveyed his message eloquently in that short time.

Rahul Dravid vs England in 2011 - part 1

The Indian Cricket Team toured England for the season July - September , 2011. The tour comprised of four Test matches, five One Day Internationals and a lone T20 battle. Before the start of the Test match series 'Pataudi Trophy' the team had some first class matches. Coming to the first Test (July 21 - 25, 2011) at the Mecca of Cricket, 'Lord's stadium'-London, it was the 2000th Test match in the international cricket. India won the toss and elected to field first. England scored 127/2 at the end of Day 1 play. Meanwhile the match was interrupted with intermittent rains. There was a blow to the Indian team at the end of Day 1 as Zaheer khan suffered from hamstring injury. At lunch on Day 2, England scored 217/3 with Pietersen and Bell playing at their best. After lunch, Dravid kept the wickets since Dhoni tried his hand in bowling. Dhoni has bowled 10 overs in that match (both the innings). Whenever Dhoni went for bowling, Dravid did his best in wicket-keeping once again stood by his team whenever they are in need of him.

At one end , Praveen Kumar was bowling at this best and took a five - wicket haul and at the other end, Pietersen was playing his temperament innings hitting the ball at right areas to reach his double century which had boosted the score of England. England declared the innings at 474/8 after tea break on Day 2, where Kevin Pietersen was unbeaten at 202. Then openers Gautam Gambhir and young Abhinav Mukund started the first innings for India. At the end of Day 2 India were 17/0 at stumps. On Day 3, India had quite a normal start with openers shared a 50 run partnership. Then gone the wicket of Gambhir when India was at 63. The very next wicket of Mukund went quickly and India lost two wickets before the lunch on Day 3.