Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid (born January 11, 1973, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India) is a former Indian international cricketer considered by many to have been one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. During his career he was also a wicketkeeper and an occasional bowler. Nicknamed “the Wall,” Dravid scored 24,208 international runs in his career and was known for his exemplary powers of concentration and discipline when batting. He was a member of the “Fab Four,” a highly regarded and successful list of Indian batters of the 1990s and 2000s—along with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and V.V.S. Laxman—who made up the backbone of the Indian batting lineup of their time. Moreover, Dravid captained the Indian Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket teams. He later moved to coaching and directed the Indian national team to a win in the 2024 T20I (Twenty20 International) World Cup, held in the West Indies and the U.S.

Early life and career

Rahul Dravid was born to a Maharashtrian family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and grew up in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Karnataka. Having taken to cricket at an early age, he participated in several coaching camps organized in the late 1980s by Karnataka state. He caught the eye of Keki Tarapore, coach of several Indian cricketing greats and did well in local competitions at the under-13 (U-13), U-15, and U-17 levels.

Dravid was soon called to the Karnataka state team and made his debut at the age of 17 in a Ranji Trophy first-class match against Maharashtra in the 1990–91 season, scoring 82 runs. In only his second game he made his maiden first-class century, scoring 134 runs against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals. Selectors and coaches noted his sound technique and hunger for runs. Dravid continued to score runs in the 1991–92 season, and he captained an Indian U-19 team versus New Zealand. Over the next few years, he racked up runs, and, as a result, got onto Indian “A” teams, giving him a chance to play and do well against “A” teams from visiting countries. He was not picked for the Indian squad for the 1996 ODI World Cup, but he continued to score runs in domestic cricket. He was also part of the Karnataka team that won the Ranji Trophy in the 1995–96 season.

International cricket

In April 1996 Dravid made his international debut in an ODI against Sri Lanka. He failed to impress in his first few matches in the format. However, he was picked for the Indian Test tour of England in 1996 on the strength of his first-class performances. He was the reserve wicketkeeper on the tour, with Nayan Mongia being the only specialist wicketkeeper.

In June 1996 Dravid made his debut in the second Test of the series at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and scored 95, missing a century by a heartbreaking five runs. He was overshadowed by fellow debutant Sourav Ganguly, who made a century on debut. At the time, the Indian batting lineup was known for its overdependence on Tendulkar. Dravid—and, to some extent, Ganguly—were soon to change that.

Dravid did not have a steady batting position during his early career, as the Indian team kept experimenting with combinations around Tendulkar, who occupied the number four position. Dravid batted as opener as well as at lower positions. His early career was slow to take off, as he scored several fifties but failed to convert many of those into hundreds. His first century came on a tough tour of South Africa in 1996–97, when he scored 148 and 81 in the third Test of a chastening series loss for India. He continued to be in and out of the ODI team, with inconsistent performances, which led him to be called a Test specialist.

Dravid hit his stride in 1998–99, topping India’s averages and run charts in Tests that year, even as India struggled to win matches overseas. He also featured in India’s squad in the 1999 ODI World Cup, and, even though India failed to qualify for the semifinals, he finished as the tournament’s top run scorer.

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In the early 2000s Indian cricket was rocked by a match-fixing scandal, and Tendulkar resigned as captain of the national team following a string of poor results. Ganguly was appointed captain with Dravid as his deputy. In 2000 Dravid captained India for the first time, in an ODI match against Zimbabwe, replacing Ganguly, who was serving a suspension.

In 2001 an Australian team that had won 15 Test matches in a row toured India for a Test series dubbed by Australian captain Steve Waugh the “final frontier.” Australia won the first Test and took a commanding lead in the second Test, at Kolkata; hence it seemed inevitable that that team would win the series of three games. With India following on and four wickets down, Dravid, batting at number six to allow an in-form V.V.S. Laxman more batting time at number three, joined the latter at the crease. The two would go on to bat not just for the remainder of that day, the third of the test, but for the entire fourth day as well, for a partnership of 376 runs. Laxman scored 281 runs and Dravid 180 in what is often called the “Miracle of Kolkata.” India won the Test, making it only the third time in history that a team had won after being asked to follow on. India won the next match as well, denying the all-conquering Aussies the series victory.

Dravid hit a rich vein of form from 2002 to 2006, and the period also saw the Indian team breaking new ground. He was part of the team that won the 2002 ICC (International Cricket Council) Champions Trophy jointly with Sri Lanka. Dravid had slowly started to transition to the role of a full-time wicketkeeper to help balance the ODI team. In the 2003 ODI World Cup, India won all its matches except for a group match as well as the all-important final to an Australian team that many consider to have been one of the greatest of all time. Though he was not a specialist keeper, Dravid’s keeping during the tournament drew notable mention in addition to his stable batting down the order.

In 2003–04, India toured Australia and tied the Test series 1–1. India’s sole win, the first in Australia in several decades, was down to Dravid’s scores of 233 and 72 not out in the second Test, in Adelaide. India visited Pakistan for a Test series in 2004, with Dravid as captain for the first two Tests in place of an injured Ganguly. Dravid was thus captain in the first Test, at Multan, now known for being both India’s first Test win in Pakistan and India’s first triple century in a Test, scored by Virender Sehwag. After losing the second Test, Dravid scored a massive 270 in the third match, and India won the series, the team’s first such win in Pakistan and its first series win outside India since 1993.

Captaincy

In 2005 Australian Greg Chappell was appointed coach of the Indian team for a short and eventually controversial tenure. Chappell would soon fall out with captain Ganguly, who the coach believed did not deserve to be on the team. Dravid was appointed captain for a Test series against Sri Lanka, leading in the first two Tests before being ruled out of the third because of illness. It was the first time Dravid had missed a Test since his debut, resulting in a streak of 94 games. In the Test series against Pakistan that followed, Dravid promoted himself as opener and partnered with Sehwag to an opening stand of 410, just four runs short of the record at the time for the first wicket. India lost the series and drew the following Test series with England, which India had been expected to win.

In 2006 Dravid led India to its first Test series win in the West Indies since 1971. Later that year he was captain when India won a Test match in South Africa for the first time. In the lead-up to the 2007 ODI World Cup, Dravid became the third Indian batter to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket, a remarkable achievement for someone dubbed a Test specialist at the start of his career.

The 2007 ODI World Cup that followed is often seen as India’s worst performance in a global tournament, as India, led by Dravid, failed to make it out of the group stage. Effigies of the players were burned in India, but Dravid’s team rebounded to win a Test series in Bangladesh later that year. Also in 2007 Dravid led from the front as India won a Test series in England for the first time since 1986.

Dravid resigned from the captaincy later that year. Captaincy of the ODI and the newly popular T20I formats went to rising star Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Anil Kumble took up the Test captaincy.

Post-captaincy career and retirement

Dravid continued to score runs in Tests and passed several batting milestones. However, he lost his place on the ODI team in 2008, as the team selectors had started focusing on younger talent, and appeared in ODIs only sporadically after that until his retirement. He was not part of the Indian team that won the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup. However, India lost two Test series in 2011–12 to England and Australia by 4–0 (though it did beat the West Indies, 2–0, in November 2011). The only redeeming feature of the England tour was Dravid’s three centuries in the Test series, but he did not find quite the same success in Australia and retired in 2012 at the end of the tour.

Dravid’s ODI retirement had some drama to it. He had been off the team for a while and thus was not expected to play, but, surprisingly, he was called up for India’s ill-fated 2011 tour of England. He scored 69 in his last innings and “formally” retired from ODI cricket. The tour also saw Dravid play his only T20I match, in which he scored a quick 31 for an injury-depleted Indian team.

“He was totally a class act, on and off the field. A terrific role model for youngsters with his work ethic, with the way he carried himself, with the way he applied himself,” said former Indian batsman and captain Sunil Gavaskar to BBC Radio when Dravid retired. “It is going to be a bit void in Indian cricket now. I think you really won’t find anybody playing with the same tactical virtuosity that you saw with Rahul Dravid.”

Dravid finished his international career with 13,288 Test runs at an average of more than 50 with 36 centuries, marking him as an all-time great. His record of 210 outfield catches in Tests still held in 2024. In ODIs, he finished with 10,889 runs, with 12 centuries. He captained India in 25 Tests, with 8 wins, and in 79 ODIs, with 42 wins.

Dravid played English county cricket for Kent in 2000, and he played for Scotland in 2003. From 2008–10 he played for the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bengaluru, his home team. He then moved to the Rajasthan Royals team before retiring from all forms of cricket in 2013.

Coaching career

Dravid made the transition to coaching when he took over as mentor to the Rajasthan Royals team that he was captaining in 2013. He officially became a mentor in 2014 and saw the team finish third in 2015. In 2014 Dravid also played the role of mentor to the Indian Test team when it toured England.

In 2015 Dravid was appointed coach of the Indian U-19 team as well as the Indian A teams and helped shape the careers of many talented youngsters, such as Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, and Shubman Gill, who later became mainstays on the national team. The U-19 team finished as runner-up at the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2016 but won the next edition, in 2018, under Dravid’s tutelage. In 2019 he was appointed director of cricket operations at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Several players have credited Dravid with helping them improve their game, and he has played a highly influential role in developing many careers.

In 2021 Dravid was appointed head coach of the Indian national team, replacing Ravi Shastri, whose stint had just ended. Having previously been reluctant to take up the role, Dravid built a good rapport with Indian captain Rohit Sharma. The Indian team would, in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup at home, win all its matches before an agonizing loss to Australia in the final. Furthermore, the team qualified for the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final and lost again to Australia. Dravid’s coaching stint was to end in November 2023, but Sharma persuaded him to stay on for a few more months. Success came at last when India won the ICC T20I World Cup in June 2024. Dravid quit his role as coach after the win, handing over the reins to former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir. In September 2024 Dravid signed back up with the Rajasthan Royals, this time as the head coach; his stint was to begin with the 2025 IPL season.