First of all let me give a warm b'day wish to the indian skipper Rahul Dravid.As i am a die-hard fan of Rahul,I coudnt resist writing a post on RD.
Rahul Sharad Dravid was born on 11th January 1973 to Mr Sharad Dravid and Pushpa Dravid,He completed his school education at St.Joseph's Bangalore.He startes swinging his bat at the age of 10 for his school cricket team which had a good cricket team.His good performance in junior tournaments awarded him selection to state U-15,U-17 and U-19 teams.He attended a a summer coaching camp at KSCA's,where former cricketer turned coach Keki Tarapore noticed his talents.In 1991 Rahul made his ranji trophy debut against Maharashtra.A double century in Ranji final's against Tamil nadu placed him on the head lines in 1996,for which he got selection to the indian test team in the tour of England.Gave a flying start to his career scoring 95 in first test along side Sourav ganguly at the lord's.Makes first maiden test Century against South Africa scoring 148 in 1997,while his maiden ODi century came against pakistan at chennai where he scored 107runs.In 1998 he gets selected to the world cup and emerges as the top scorer with 461 runs which included 3 50's and two hundred's.Highest test score 270 came against pakistan in 2003-2004.Dravid mean while played for Kent in the English county.Rahul with his strong determination,concentration and patience became the backbone of indian cricket.He came to india's rescue when other's crumbled,thus he led india to some historic wins(Like the one against pakistan in WC 2003).currently he stands 7th in test rankings.
Seen at launch of his biography along side Sachin tendulkar
Personal Life
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Rahul Dravid married Vijeta Pendharkar on 4th may 2003,who is a surgeon in nagpur.He had a baby boy on 11th october 2003.
Achievements
- 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.
- Under Dravid's captaincy the Indian team tied the previous record with 8 consecutive One-Day International wins for the Indian team
- Leads India to snatch their first ever test victory on South African Soil.
Outstanding records
- Best career average among players who have played 100 or more Tests.
- Best away average among players who have played 50 or more away Tests.
- 1st Indian to score 5 double hundreds, each bigger than the previous.
- Involved in the highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket with a 331 run partnership along with Sachin at Hyderabad against the kiwi's
- Has the record of not being dismissed on duck for 120 consecutive ODI matches
Awards
- Ceat Cricketer of the 1999 World Cup
- Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000
- Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy 2004
- Padma Shri 2004
- ICC Player of The Year 2004
- ICC Test Player of The Year 2004
He is a gentleman of the game in every sense of the word.Hats off to you Rahul.
