11th January 1973
The Wall of Indian cricket', Rahul Sharad Dravid was born on this day in 1973. A giant of Indian cricket and one of the three best batsmen produced by India alongside Tendulkar and Gavaskar, Dravid somehow never got the adulation he so richly deserves. His greatest contribution to India has been his performance in away-series, where he has been the principal architect of several Indian wins.
He made his ODI and Test debuts in 1996, but while he struggled in ODIs initially, he scored a flawless 95 on Test debut an innings that was eclipsed by a century from fellow debutant Sourav Ganguly. His initial performances in both forms of the game set the tone for his first few years in international cricket. While he grew in stature and confidence on the Test arena, he struggled in the limited-overs format, before being dropped from the team. However, the tour to New Zealand in 1998-99, saw a changed Dravid come back into the Indian team and establish himself in both formats. He upped his strike rate, learned to rotate the strike and pierce the gaps better, and all the while maintained his impregnable defence that gave rise to his famous nickname 'The Wall'.
When he brought down the curtains on his excellent career, he finished with 13,288 Test runs and 10,889 runs in ODIs. In his lone T20I appearance against England, he scored a sparkling 31. Dravid was a consistent scorer in the IPL as well, and he ended his career in franchise cricket with 2174 runs.
Dravid's relentless pursuit for excellence made him the cricketer he eventually became. Not one training session was missed, nor was an opportunity let go to learn something new every day. He didn't believe in the new age anthem of partying, instead using the spare time he had to beef up his knowledge of the game. Often, he would be seen immersed in a book and that habit never changed.
He also never shied away from asking for advice. One could see him chatting away with either the coach or the computer analyst after he was dismissed, picking at their brains as to what went wrong in the middle. In short he was a thinking cricketer, a bit too much in fact - intense at all times and almost an aberration to how modern day cricketers are today.