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.

Dravid's Debut in Cricket - Part 1

               As Rahul Dravid started playing cricket right from age of 12, he took part in under 15, under 17 and under 19 representing Karnataka.. He made his First class debut in a Ranji Trophy tournament in February 1991(1990-1991 Ranji season) against Maharashtra in Nehru stadium, Pune.. Dravid's first captain (In Ranji's) was former Indian Wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani.. Dravid scored 82 runs in his debut Ranji match.. A notable feature in that match was Dravid batted at no. 7 position.. Then he scored his maiden first-class hundred in his second Ranji match against Bengal with an innings of 134.. Then in 1991-1992 season he consecutively scored two centuries 126 and 128 against Goa & Kerala respectively..

              It was in that season Dravid was appointed as captain of an Under-19 Indian team for
New Zealand series comprising two test matches.. Dravid proved his best in his very first test match as a captain by a thrilling 12-run win in the first test and a draw on the second test.. In the second test he scored his first century of 116 runs against an overseas team.. Hence under his captaincy the under-19 team has won the test series 1-0 and the ODI series 2-1.. Dravid even proved his bowling figures in one day series as an off-spinner bagging 5 wickets for 99 runs.

Here's the beginning - Brick by brick

 Rahul Dravid -  The name you can see anywhere in the batting order in the history of Indian cricket.

As a die-hard fan of RD, I would like to start describing about this selfless Indian Cricketer with one of my favorite quote on him by N.S.Sidhu, former Indian Cricketer. I hope this would be a favorite one for any RD fans..
Here it is

"Rahul Dravid is a player who would walk on broken glass if his team asks him to..."

That was exactly a fact.. It clearly proves about him that he is a perfect 'Team-man'. Apart form this, he is widely respected not only by own his team-mates ,but also by all cricketers from other nations..

Lets start off from the childhood of Rahul Dravid :

Rahul Sharad Dravid was born in a maharashtrian brahmin family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Later his family moved on to Bangalore, Karnataka where he has grown up. Rahul's father is Mr.Sharad Dravid who was working in a jam company(kissan) which led dravid to be called as 'jammy' by his friends & teammates. Rahul's mother is Mrs.Pushpa Dravid who was a professor of Architecture at the UVCE, Bangalore. Rahul has a younger brother named vijay.