... in this match, he was the last man standing, ... India won the match and Dravid was correctly adjudged man of the match. Literally and figuratively, in this match, he was the last man standing, the only one amongst 10 other “boys”, with the scoreboard showing a dismal 300 all out in reply to England’s 591.India eventually lost the match by an innings and the series 4-0 with Dravid being India’s highest run-getter.The series was at stake going in to the final Test at Rawalpindi. Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid (wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Mohammad Azharuddin (c), Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Debasis Mohanty SL playing Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), Marvan Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Arjuna Ranatunga (c), Roshan Mahanama, Chaminda Vaas, Eric Upashantha, Pramodya … The greatness of a player is judged in the dressing room. After Pakistan was bowled out for 224 in the first innings, Viru got out off the very first ball and from then on Dravid took charge.He patiently built an innings, and ended up making his highest Test score of 270 from 495 balls. However, that was followed by a poor series in Australia, which turned out to be his last, as he announced his retirement soon after returning to India.Dravid's immense levels of concentration also came in handy when he was standing in the slips. Dravid's unbeate 109, off 124 balls, was an exercise in keeping the scoreboard ticking without resorting to slogging even once. Find out more in our Initially seen as a liability in the one-day arena, he retooled his game over the years to become an adept middle-order finisher. Rahul Dravid, who has come up against the Super Kings both as captain and coach, put down the team's success to a combination of their use of data and Dhoni's instincts. Except for two centuries against a weak New Zealand attack, Dravid struggles for runs with only one half-century in 17 other innings. "There was a final match in Bangalore, I had dismissed Sadagoppan Ramesh early, we took 3-4 wickets early. We will take a look at the 5 best Test innings of Rahul Dravid.The wolf who lived for the pack, the quintessential Test batsman, Rahul Dravid, along with Sehwag opened the batting for India. Unconventionally and to the surprise of many, after winning the toss, captain Saurav Ganguly opted to bat on a pitch with a hint of green.In came Rahul Dravid to deal with England’s pacers who were looking to bully the Indian batsmen on a track that favoured swing and bounce.Dravid tackled everything that was thrown at him with impeccable judgement – each ball bowled outside the off stump was calmly left. He went back to the domestic circuit and kept knocking harder. He ends the South Africa series with an average of just 20. The result was a win for India with Dravid’s being the most important contribution, in the first innings as well as the second.Dravid celebrating his epic hundred at the Eden GardensAfter being bowled out for 171 in response to Australia’s 445, India were sent in to bat again.By the time Dravid came in to bat, India had lost 4 wickets for 232 runs. Never a natural athlete, he compensated with sheer hard work and powers of concentration that were almost yogic. The half decade that followed was a golden one with the bat, as tours of England and Australia realised more than 600 runs.A two-year stint as captain, following Ganguly's axing, was less successful, though he did lead the side to series victories in England and the West Indies for the first time in a generation.
You know you’ve tried your best which is still not good enough to be the best batsman in the team and that can put you down,” Ramiz Raja was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.“But credit to Rahul Dravid, for at times outdoing Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid surprisingly wasn’t amongst the runs in the first Two Tests. A few months later, he was at the crease more than 12 hours for the 270 that clinched India's first series win in Pakistan. India didn’t have to bat again as they won by an innings. Four centuries on a trot. An injury to Sanjay Manjrekar gives Dravid his India cap India enter the bullring for the third Test against South Africa Becomes the third Indian to score a century in each innings, against New Zealand Dravid turns out for Kent, and guess who the club's coach is? Rahul Dravid, along with VVS Laxman began India’s resurrection.Wearing the Aussie bowlers down with his classy defence, Dravid hit top gear and smashed the bowlers all around the park. As Laxman clobbered the Aussies all over, Dravid sculptured an unspectacular but solid innings.He had answers to everything that was thrown at him by Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and the other Aussie bowlers. However, wickets fell like ninepins and in no time India were reduced to 85-4 from 66-0.The Aussies exulted as Ganguly fell, convinced that even with Dravid and Laxman at the crease, victory was not too far away. Fans like us did not have the faintest of idea that our prayers were about to be answered.
Dravid, who had been knocking at the doors of Indian national cricket team for quite a while with his consistent performance in domestic cricket, received his first national call in October 1994, for the last two matches of the Wills World Series.
So much so, that when the selectors announced the Indian team for the 1996 World Cupsans Dravid, an Indian daily newspa…