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alm, assured and highly skilled, Rahul Dravid is one
of the most respected cricketers in the world. His abilities
as a batsman – in both the Test and one-day formats – would
mark him out as a great player in any era but Dravid’s status is
increased further by the dignity with which he plays the game.

Dravid plays with classical strokeplay and a stately demeanour,
and it is almost as though his talents are plucked from a by-
gone era. However, do not be fooled into thinking he might be
a soft touch. Oh, no. Rahul Dravid is a tough cricketer whose
determination and appetite for big scores has brought him
more than 20,000 runs for his country. You don’t make that many
without a flinty resolve.

He is by instinct an accumulator, as his nickname ‘The Wall’
will testify. He likes to take his time, to gather runs watchfully.
Yet, when the mood takes or the situation demands, Dravid
can flog bowling, particularly in limited-overs cricket. He times
the ball sweetly, finds the gaps with unerring accuracy and can
even clear the ropes with deceptive power. He is the complete
CAPTAIN
batsman and has also kept wicket many times for India in one-
day matches.

Along with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Dravid is part
of the holy trinity of great India batsmen and dominant figures
of the modern era. They have been the galacticos of the sub-
Dravid
continent for more than a decade. Dravid’s record is superior
to that of Ganguly and he might yet finish with a higher Test
Rahul
batting average than Tendulkar – the Little Maestro who is
commonly acknowledged among Indians as the greatest player
of his generation.

Dravid scored 95 on his Test debut against England at Lord’s in
1995 and has rarely struggled for runs since. The innings that
guaranteed his place in Indian cricket folklore was his 180 against
Australia and Kolkata in 2001. Dravid and VVS Laxman put on
376 for the fifth wicket and India won the match: it was only the
third time in Test history a side had won a game after following
on. In 2002, he scored 602 runs in a four-Test series in England. In
2003-04, he made three Test double-centuries, including 233 (plus
72 not out in the second innings) against Australia in Adelaide

which set up another epic win. His Test batting record is better
outside India than it is in his home country, which rubbishes
any notion that he feasts on slow Indian pitches and struggles
elsewhere. Dravid scores massively in any conditions.