Rahul Dravid's Master Strokes

 

The ‘Wall of Indian Cricket’ Rahul Dravid has announced his retirement from international cricket. He grew along with the Indian cricket greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly. In his 16 year cricket career, he achieved the most remarkable 13288 test scores in 164 test matches and 10889 ODI runs in 344 matches.

The Wall made his debut in 1996 during India’s tour of England. He scored 95 runs in his first test at Lords stadium in London. In his parting speech, he declares his retirement from international and domestic first class cricket and says “No dream is ever chased alone. As I look back, as one does at such a time, I have many people to thank for supporting me, teaching me and believing in me.”

From 1996 he has done an extraordinary job in Indian cricket and had gained the title of being ‘The Wall’ which credited many Indian victories.  Here are the best knocks of his career.

January 1997

In January 1997 it was his first highest test score against South Africa in Johannesburg. He scored 148 runs in 362 balls along with 21 boundaries in this innings.

January 1999

In 1999 Rahul became the third Indian batsman scoring centuries in both innings of the test match. In the match against New Zealand in Hamilton he scored 190 runs in 354 balls with 31 boundaries. Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar were the other two Indian players who achieved this feat. In this test match

May 1999

Dravid was the only Indian player to score back-to-back centuries in the 1999 World Cup matches. One prominent match among them was against Sri Lanka in Taunton. He scored 145 runs in 129 balls and also become the top scorer of the series with a total score of 461 runs.

March 2001

In 2001 Rahul scored 180 test runs in 353 balls (not out) against Australia in Kolkata. He with the partnership of Laxman made a huge score of 376 runs. This huge score was the greatest comeback victory in Indian cricket

August 2002

One of the most notable matches against England, where Dravid scored total of 602 test runs in the series which got him the man of the series award. His highest score in the series was 148 in 307 balls.

September 2002

Rahul once again earned the man of the match title against England in London, scoring 217 runs in 468 balls.

December 2003

In 2003 India tour of Australia Rahul scored total 619 test runs in the series and got the man of the series award. His outstanding score in the series was 233 with a partnership of Laxman it was a huge score of 303 which become a danger for Australians to win the series.

April 2004

In 2004 against India tour of Pakistan in Rawalpindi, Rahul earned the player of the match. He scored 270 runs in 495 balls along with 34 boundaries and won the innings by 131 runs

January 2008

In 2008 test match against Australia, Rahul was a life saver. He scored 93 runs in 183 balls and we won the match by 72 runs. This is not a big score but every other Indian player scored less than 29 runs in the innings.

June 2011

Dravid once again became a life saver wall when other batsmen failed to score not more than 28 runs against West Indies. He scored 112 in 274 balls and leading Indian to the victory by 63 runs.