Happy Birthday Rahul Dravid: 10 interesting facts about the Indian cricket legend

Dravid was born on Jan. 11, 1973 in Indore. Having lived in Bangalore all his life, many believe that Rahul Dravid hails from Karnataka. The Indian cricket legend, however, is from a Marathi-speaking family. Interestingly, the Dravids actually are from Tamil Nadu and their ancestors had settled in Maharashtra.

A 12-year-old Dravid entered professional cricket as he went on to represent Karnataka at the under-15, the under-17 and the under-19 levels.

Dravid was selected to India national cricket team while studying MBA in St Joseph's College of Business Administration in Bangalore.

Dravid’s father worked in a Jam factory and that earned him the nickname ‘Jammy’. The legendary batsman is also called as ‘The Wall’ and ‘Mr. Dependable’.

In 1996, Dravid made his ODI debut vs Sri Lanka. He managed only three runs. In the same year, he made his Test debut at the Lord’s Cricket Ground vs England, where he scored 95 runs, batting at No. 7. In the same Test, Ganguly also made his Test debut and scored a ton.

During India’s tour of South Africa in 1997, Dravid was promoted to No. 3 and he single-handedly won the Test for India with scores of 148 and 81. Even though the weather played a spoilsport and the Test ended in a draw, Dravid returned with his maiden Test ton.

Dravid, who was tagged as a Test player largely than a limited-overs player, wrote off his critics by ending the 1999 WC as the highest run-scorer with 461 runs from 8 games at 65.85.

Dravid, along with Laxman, is synonymous with Eden Gardens. During 2000-01, India triumphed in the Kolkata Test, which was almost lost. The hosts were bundled out for 171 in reply to Australia’s 445. Following on, it was Laxman and Dravid’s unbelievable 375-run stand that took India to 657 for 7. Australia were out for 212 and India had won by 171 runs. Dravid had scored 180 runs in the second innings.

Dravid holds the record for being the only Indian to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.

After Bangladesh knocked out India of the 2007 WC, Dravid gracefully accepted the defeat and also gifted two of his bats to Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim.

In 509 international matches, Dravid scored 24,208 runs, including 48 centuries and 146 fifties. Dravid served Team India from 1996 to 2012.

Even after retirement, Dravid has continued to serve the team. Earlier, he was India A and Under-19's head coach and helped Prithvi Shaw and Co to win the 2018 U-19 WC. He is the current head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).