I read somewhere that former India captain Rahul Dravid dislikes the nickname “The Wall,” because it implies he can’t do anything but block and return what comes at him. And while many believe it’s a compliment, Dravid’s right that it’s somewhat back-handed. After all, most Indian fans think he scores too slowly or is too defensive and are only too happy when he makes way for Sachin Tendulkar or V.V.S. Laxman in the Test line-up.
In the frenzied, supposedly hip IPL, however, he hasn’t disappointed at all. He is currently the top scorer (wearing the orange or pink or whatever gimmicky cap) in the 2009 edition. And in the last one — an atrocious season for his team, which saw forced resignations, multiple strategies, public apologies and angry owner rants — he was among the top 10 scorers, notching up 371 at an impressive strike rate over 124. Even then, he was blamed: he picked the wrong sort of team, the owner said; he scored too slowly, others said.
What does it mean? A couple of things: first, he could easily qualify for the ODI squad, were it not for India’s long-term strategy of investing in youth. Second, a really good player can adjust his game, as commentators like to say, and adapt. Dravid is an example. Third, perhaps age doesn’t matter all that much in Twenty20, given Dravid is way past 35 now. Fourth, of the Fab Four, I feel sorry most for Rahul Dravid. He was never flashy or a crowd-pleaser as Ganguly was; his captaincy tenure was lobotomized and ruined by an argument he couldn’t control (even though he was on the right side), and, unlike Tendulkar or even Ganguly, he did not get the chance to retire from ODIs with the respect he deserves. For whatever reason, he could not command the clout that Tendulkar earned through genius and Ganguly through sheer will.
And this is the biggest irony of all: the IPL — that awful, hyper-commercialized circus with its triflling stakes — may very well turn out to be Dravid’s finest hour, when he reminds his fans and detractors of the transcendantal skills that, for a time, made him the greatest batsman in the Test and ODI realm. Funny, that.
Ducking Beamers: A Cricket Blog 
Rahul Dravid is good.. i like him! i mean plays well..
Rahul’s way to play and hit the ball is the best I have ever seen and understood. I thing he is most stylish and sensible batsman in the world.
[…] a comment » Over at Cricket With Balls, J Rod makes the case against Rahul Dravid (whom I praised in a recent post): ‘08: 14 matches, 371 runs, High score of 75*, Average of 28, Strike rate of […]
Im the biggest fan of dravid after his exclusion from the odi squad iv stopped watching indian odis this was disgusting dravid deserves a high place in odi squad.
Bcci is totally shit Dravid must be a part of the indian onedaysquad.
Dravid is the best batsman,cricketer and ambassador of the game india ever had
U r rite my bro
an exceptionally well written article!! completely true and a must read! 🙂 its rahul dravid for heaven’s sake! THE NICE GUY WHO FINISHED FIRST…. he deserves to be treated well. it was because of him that india began to win overseas matches. but ofcourse…he doesn’t remove his shirt in joy..or never is in such a rush to score in big numbers that he throws away his wicket…. DRAVID commands respect..which no other player does. IM PROUD TO BE A DRAVID FAN! 🙂
yeah we ought to be proud fans…He deserves and will surely get an ODI call up:)
Rahul the wall of india you must play wc11
i am the biggest fan of rahul dravid ever.i think he never got the respect and lime light that he deserved.He is the victim of dirty politics.He is undoubtly one of the all time greats of the game,but in india there are very few people who realise what he has done for indian cricket
i am the biggest fan of rahul dravid ever.and his following records define his greatness————–\
Personal records
Tests
• Dravid holds the world record for being the first (and only) non-wicketkeeper to take 200 catches in Test cricket. As of 27-12-2010, he is way ahead of Mark Waugh (181 catches) and Ricky Ponting (177 catches)[41]
• Dravid is the 2nd Indian (3rd in World) to score more than 12,000 test runs.
• Has been involved in the most century partnerships in Test history – 85 (23 nov 2009).
• Scored nearly 23% of the total runs put up by India (with a batting average of 102.84) in the 21 Test matches won under Ganguly’s captaincy. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in Test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests.[39]
• 2nd longest streak of consecutive Tests since debut (93 + 1 in ICC XI) missed 95th test at Ahmedabad due to fever, behind Adam Gilchrist (96).
• First player to score a century against every Test playing nation away from home,[42] the only other batsmen to achieve the feat being Sachin Tendulkar.[citation needed]
• Involved in highest partnership made away from home for any wicket for India with vice captain Virender Sehwag of 410 runs vs Pakistan at Lahore in 2006 (also, the highest partnership between a captain and the vice captain). Only Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad have scored more runs in a partnership for India, 413 vs New Zealand in Chennai (6-11 Jan 1956).
• Dravid is one among the only three batsmen to hit Test centuries in four consecutive innings. The other two are Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville. Dravid achieved this by hitting scores of 115, 148, 217 and 100* in three successive matches against England and one against the West Indies. Only Everton Weekes, with centuries in five consecutive innings, has achieved a longer sequence of consecutive Test hundreds.[43]
• With scores of 50 or more in 7 consecutive Tests Dravid is behind only to Tendulkar (8) and Gambhir (11) among Indian batsmen. Gambhir and Viv Richards hold the world record with 11.
• He is currently 2nd among batsmen who have scored most away runs in Tests (6430 as of April 2009). Only Sachin Tendulkar (7165) has scored more away Test runs.
• He has played 150 innings of 94 tests at number 3. He has scored more than 8000 runs at this position. Both feats are world records.
• 2nd Indian batsman to score twin hundreds in a Test twice, after Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar and Ponting are the only batsmen to score twin hundreds in a Test thrice.
• One of only three Indians to score 5 double hundreds.(each bigger than the previous 200* vs Zimbabwe, 217 vs England, 222 vs New Zealand, 233 vs Australia, 270 vs Pakistan). In fact, along with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, he is one of only three Indians to score 190+ on seven occasions.
• Partnering with Tendulkar, has scored more runs than any other pair, excluding opening pairs. They are the 3rd best in terms of total number of partnership runs scored by a pair in test cricket.[44]
• Dravid has faced highest number of deliveries in test cricket, more than Allan Border’s previous record of 27002 deliveries.[45]
• 2nd highest number of fifties in test cricket after Australia’s Allan Border (63) and jointly shared with compatriot Sachin Tendulkar (59)
• Rahul Dravid is the third batsman in the world after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and Australia’s Ricky Ponting to reach the 12000-run milestone in test cricket.
[edit] One Dayers
• Dravid is the 3rd Indian (6th in World) to score more than 10,000 ODI runs.
Partnership Records
• The only batsman to have been involved in two ODI partnerships exceeding 300 runs.
• First batsman to be involved in a 300 run partnership in a Cricket World Cup along with Sourav Ganguly in the 1999 World Cup match against Sri Lanka at Taunton.
• Involved in all three highest 4th wicket partnerships against South Africa, two with Yuvraj Singh.
• Involved in the highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket with a 331 run partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar vs New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999-2000.
• Involved in highest 3rd wicket partnership in ODI history with Sachin Tendulkar – 237 runs against Kenya in 1999.
World Cup Records
• He was the leading run scorer in the 1999 World Cup with 461 runs.
• Has the 2nd highest score (145) by a wicketkeeper in a World Cup behind AC Gilchrist(149).
• He was only the second wicketkeeper-batsman after Zimbabwean Dave Houghton to score an ODI hundred in the World Cup.
• He was the second batsman after Mark Waugh to score back-to-back hundreds in the World Cup
Captaincy Records
• He is tied with Sachin Tendulkar in fourth place for having captained India in the most victorious matches
Other Records
• Has the record of not being dismissed on duck for 120 consecutive ODI matches
• 3rd Highest number of fifties, after India’s Sachin Tendulkar (93) and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq (83) at 82.
[edit] Captaincy
[edit] Achievements
• Rahul Dravid is only one of two Indians to be the top scorer in a World Cup (the other is Sachin Tendulkar). He amassed 461 runs in the 1999 World Cup, the first World Cup he played.
• Rahul Dravid led India to a historic Test series win, against the West Indies in their home soil in 2006. Since 1971, India had never won a Test series in the West Indies. This was also their first prominent series win outside the Indian subcontinent (barring the win against Zimbabwe in 2005) since 1986.
• Under Dravid’s captaincy the Indian team tied the previous record of most consecutive One-Day International wins for an Indian team thus equalling the record run that the Indian team had achieved under Sourav Ganguly in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa (8). This was later beaten by Mahendra Singh Dhoni who led Indian team to 9 consecutive victories in 2008-2009.
• During his captaincy the Indian team broke the record for most consecutive won matches in One-Day Internationals while batting second (previously held by the West Indies). For this 17 match run, Dravid was the captain for 15 matches and Sourav Ganguly was the captain for the other two. This streak was broken on 20 May 2006, when India lost to the West Indies by one run, at Sabina Park, Jamaica.
• Rahul Dravid was the first captain to lead India to a Test match victory against South Africa on South African soil.
• He became only the third captain from India to win a Test series in England. The other two captains being Kapil Dev (1986) and Ajit Wadekar (1971).
• He has hit 10,000 runs in both tests and one day internationals, making him only the third batsmen after Tendulkar and Lara to achieve this feat. Only Ricky Ponting has since equalled this feat.
• He holds the record of number of catches in Test cricket by a non-wicket keeper.
Thank you dar for brief information about Dravid, iam big fan of Rahul Dravid, after dravid’s reteirment from the cricket, i dont have interest to watch the cricket. i miss his great batting…