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London: It took Rahul Dravid 15 years, but he has finally made it to the honours' board at Lord's, a ground which is like home. Back in the summer of 1996, Dravid fell for 95 on his Test debut, in an innings where fellow-debutant Sourav Ganguly got 36 more. On Saturday, though, Dravid wasn't to be denied (103 not out). He was dropped on 42 by Graeme Swann, off the absolutely brilliant Stuart Broad, but that can hardly be held against him. Almost all the attention had been on Sachin Tendulkar, with just about everybody wondering if he'd get his 100th International hundred. So big a draw was Sachin that even Mike Brearley, who'd been chatting with Mark Nicholas in the lounge area of the media centre, promptly moved to his seat when The Master took guard, at the fall of Abhinav Mukund. "Got to see Sachin bat," Brearley quipped. Then, turning to Nicholas, who accompanied him out of the lounge, he said: "I wonder who is more nervous, the batsman or the bowler (Broad)..." Sachin didn't get anywhere close to a hundred, falling for 34 to Broad, who'd been troubling him with well pitched up deliveries which swung. Dravid, however, kept building brick by brick and his commitment to the team's cause got rewarded in the form of his 33rd Test hundred. V.V.S. Laxman, dropped on zero in the same over as Dravid, didn't take advantage of the let off by Andrew Strauss, but the former captain really rubbed it in for England. "Another fantastic innings from Rahul... I'm delighted for him... Understandably, the focus was on Sachin, but Rahul held his own, never lost concentration and played for the team," is how the talismanic Sunil Gavaskar saluted the centurion. Speaking to The Telegraph, Gavaskar added: "Right through his career, Rahul has been in Sachin's shadow, but that hasn't bothered him one bit." Dravid, for his part, said: "It does feel great... Not only from a personal point of view, but that I helped the team get through a difficult period... I'm not looking at the hundred as the end of a 15-year wait, but it's nice that I've now got what I missed on my debut." Classy as ever, Dravid didn't commit himself when asked if he was looking ahead to a couple of more seasons of international cricket. "Like Sachin, I live in the present," he maintained. Broad (four for 37 instead of six for whatever) lauded Dravid. "He showed fantastic patience... The way he left the balls outside off was a highlight..." On the eve of the series-opener, Broad wasn't a certainty in the XI. After the first innings performance, where he struck the perfect length, he's booked himself a berth for the remaining three Tests. Behind by a massive 188 on the first innings (incidentally, Broad felt the follow-on wouldn't have been enforced), India have their backs to the wall. With Zaheer Khan unlikely to bowl, Mahendra Singh Dhoni may again have to turn his arm over. That's hardly a great prospect. The pace will have to be forced by England, for it's not easy getting decisive results at Lord's. Just how much should the target be? The answer won't be easy, though. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110724/jsp/sports/story_14281496.jsp
How to Save Test CricketBy RICHARD LORDIt's hard to believe that Test cricket is in trouble, especially as India and England play out the first of their clashes to be the top-ranked Test nation in front of packed stands at Lord's. But the possible demise of the sport's oldest, most testing, most complex and most loved format has been a talking point for some time. Outside England, and sometimes Australia, attendance at most Tests is pitiful. The rapid growth of Twenty20 threatens to push Test cricket off the international schedule. The riches on offer in the shorter T20 format enable players to opt out of the Test game and ply their trade as highly remunerated freelance hit-and-giggle specialists, appearing for domestic T20 sides as well as, in some cases, their international one, and perhaps the odd One-Day International (at the moment, their ranks include such prominent names as Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga, Shaun Tait and Andrew Symonds). When players are missing, attendance drops further. The sport's authorities have been trying to address this for a while. They've made some progress, but there's a long way to go, particularly with one of the simplest and most obvious changes: playing matches at times when people can more easily watch them. As International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat pointed out last week, Test cricket has never been marketed as aggressively or cohesively as ODIs and T20s. That's partly because, with its endless bilateral series—the only outcome of which is to move up or down a ranking decided by an arcane mathematical formula—Test cricket lacks the sort of focal point provided by the World Cup or World Twenty20. The solution is the World Test Championship, recently confirmed for England in 2013, where the four top-ranked teams at the time—right now, it would be India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka—will battle it out to be the first ever official champion of Test cricket. It's a good idea, but cricket has never done anything like this before and inevitably there are complications. One is that the sport would have three different world title-holders—but then, with the rankings, it sort of does already. A bigger problem is that the Test format has never lent itself to knock-out competitions as it involves a lot of draws, and obviously you don't want joint world champions, and you certainly can't have a drawn semifinal. The latter issue will be avoided by the unsatisfactory method of having the higher-ranked team advance if the match is a draw, giving that team a very obvious incentive to play boring, conservative, slow-scoring cricket. An alternative floated by the ICC last week would make the final a timeless Test—the two teams playing on until one wins. Cricket last staged one of those 62 years ago. It lasted nine days and ended in a draw anyway because England had to catch a boat back home from South Africa—not the most auspicious of precedents. Plus, bizarre as Test cricket's draw rule may seem—with the possibility of a match being drawn when one team is massively on top, or even because of the weather—it introduces an extra level of tactical complexity. Many of the best Tests are those that enter their final day with any of several possible results still on the table, presenting a three-way push-me-pull-you of conflicting possibilities that tests the nous of the shrewdest captains and players. Timelessness will also further encourage slow play, a blight that the game needs to tackle urgently as part of the business of making itself more attractive. Teams almost never manage to bowl the supposedly mandatory 15 overs an hour, or 90 in a day, but they're rarely punished for it. The sport should crack down on needless midpitch conferences between batsmen, and endless interruptions as water, new batting gloves, a message or anything else comes on to the field from the dressing room. Then slow play can fairly be said to be the problem of the fielding side, and particularly its captain. And then, if a team keeps bowling its overs too slowly, its captain can be suspended, which should clear the problem up pretty quickly. However, timeless Tests by their very definition will encourage batsmen to score slowly as there will be no need to allow time to get opponents out twice. The ICC could maximize the chances of a result in a timeless Test by holding it in the right place at the right time of year, when play won't be interrupted by the weather, on a pitch with pace, movement and preferably also turn so that teams don't rack up massive scores. Staging it in England at any time of year is therefore probably a bad idea, and while the romantic call of Lord's is loud, if the sun comes out there the pitch can be a shirtfront—bland, true, predictable, with little in the way of dangerous bounce or movement. In fact, what's needed for a timeless Test—a fast, bouncy pitch with something in it for the bowlers—is what's needed for Test cricket generally. But the single biggest change Test cricket could make to increase attendance would be to introduce day-night Tests—games that start in the late afternoon, so people can watch them without having to take a day off work. It's been discussed for years now without ever really going anywhere, but it couldn't be much simpler: a sport played over entire weekday daytimes is going to struggle to attract an audience. There's also the fringe benefit that watching cricket—watching any sport—under floodlights is a wonderfully intense, atmospheric experience; the players lit like stage performers, the stark illumination of the playing field heightened by the blackness around it. Day-night ODIs work well, and there's no reason why day-night Tests shouldn't. The World Test Championship is a lovely idea, but there are some lower-hanging fruit that haven't yet been plucked. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903554904576461533874437802.html Rahul DravidFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rahul Sharad Dravid (Marathi: राहुल द्रविड़, Kannada: ರಾಹುಲ್ ಶರದ್ ದ್ರಾವಿಡ್, Popularly hailed as "The Wall", Dravid is known for his ability to bat for a long period of time. Dravid holds multiple cricketing records. He is the second Indian batsman, afterSachin Tendulkar, and the third international player to reach 12,000 runs in Test cricket.[4] On 14 February 2007, he became the sixth player over all and the third Indian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly), to score 10,000 runs in ODIcricket in cricketing history.[5] He is the first and only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations.[6] With more than 200 catches, Dravid currently holds the world record for the most number of catches in Test cricket.[7] Dravid has also been involved in more than 80 century partnerships with 18 different partners and has been involved in 19 century partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar – a world record.[8]
Early life and familyDravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh[9] into a Maharashtrian Deshasthafamily[10] living in Karnataka. His paternal ancestors were Iyers from Thanjavur,[11]Tamil Nadu. He was raised in Bangalore, Karnataka.[12] He has a younger brother, Vijay. Dravid's father worked for Kissan, a company known for producing jams and preserves and thus he earned the nickname Jammy from his teammates at St. Joseph's Boys' High School. His mother, Pushpa, was a professor of architecture atBangalore University.[13] Rahul Dravid has a degree in commerce from St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore. Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 12, and represented the state at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 level.[14] Rahul's talents were first spotted by former cricketer Keki Tarapore who was coaching at a summer coaching camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.[15] He went on to score a century on debut for his school team.[12] Along with the batting, he was keeping wickets. However, he later stopped keeping wickets on advice from former Test players Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and Tarapore. He was selected to make his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991 against Maharashtra in Pune (while still attending college at St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore), alongside future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, scoring 82 in a drawn match after batting in the No. 7 position.[16] His first full season was in 1991–92, when he scored two centuries to finish with 380 runs at an average of 63.3,[17] and was selected for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy.[18] On 4 May 2003, he married Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur.[19] They have two children, Samit (born 2005)[20] and Anvay (born 2009).[21] Cricketing career1995-98: BeginningDravid had a disappointing start to his career making his debut in one-dayers against Sri Lankan cricket team in the Singer Cup in Singapore immediately after World Cup in March 1996, replacingVinod Kambli. Subsequently, he was dropped from the team, until he was picked again for the tour of England. He then made his debut in the Second Test against England along with Sourav Ganguly,when Sanjay Manjrekar got injured after the first Test match on that tour. Rahul scored 95[22] and held his position on Manjrekar's return for the Third Test, scoring 84.[23]After moderate performance in home series against Australia and South Africa, Dravid broke through on the 1996–97 tour of South Africa. He batted at No. 3 in the third Test in Johannesburg, scoring his maiden century with 148 and 81, the top score in each innings to claim his first man of the match award.[24] He made his first half-century against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in 1996, scoring 90 in his 10th ODI.[25] In the 18 months ending in mid-1998, he played in an away series against the West Indies, home and away series against Sri Lanka and a home series against Australia, he scored consistently, with 964 runs at an average of 56.7. He scored eleven half-centuries but was unable to convert them to triple figures[citation needed]. He scored his second century in late 1998 against Zimbabwe in a one-off Test match, top-scoring in both innings with 148 and 44, but was unable to prevent an Indian defeat[citation needed]. He became the third Indian batsman after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar to score centuries in both innings of a match during the 1999 New Year's Test match against New Zealand with 190 and 103* to force a draw.[26][27] He had a moderate season in the subcontinent in early 1999, scoring 269 runs at an average of 38.42 with one century before scoring 239 at an average of 39.8 including a century against New Zealand in late 1999[citation needed]. This was followed by a poor away series against Australia and another poor home series against South Africa, accumulating just 187 runs at an average of 18.7. He then scored 200*, his first double century, against Zimbabwe in Delhi, which along with 70* in the second innings helped India to victory. It was the first time he had passed 50 in 12 months and he followed this with a 162 in the following Test, giving him 432 runs in the two match series at an average of 432[citation needed]. 1999: World Cup SuccessDravid was top scorer in the 7th World Cup (1999), scoring 461 runs. He is the only Indian to score two back to back centuries at the World Cup. He scored 110 vs Kenya and followed it with a masterly 145 against Sri Lanka in Taunton, in a match where he kept wickets. He was vice captain during 2003 World cup where India reached the final, serving his team in the dual capacity of a batsman and wicket keeper to accommodate an additional batsman, a move that paid huge dividends for India. Dravid was the captain during the 2007 cricket world cup in West Indies, where Indian cricket team had a dismal campaign. Post 2000In the second test of a three match test series against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, Dravid joined hands with VVS Laxman to produce one of the greatest comeback victories in the history of the game. Following on, the pair put on 376 runs for the fifth wicket in the second innings of the match. Dravid scored 180 while Laxman made 281.[28] Though Dravid ended up second-best, it remains one of his greatest performances till date. Later that year in Port Elizabeth against South Africa, he made a crucial match-saving 87 runs in the second innings to deny South Africa the win.[29] 2002 was the year, when Dravid started to emerge out of Tendulkar's shadow and established himself as India's premier Test batsman. In the month of April, at Georgetown, West Indies in first test match of the series, he scored an unbeaten 144[30] in the first innings after being hit by aMervyn Dillon delivery. Later that year, he raked up four consecutive centuries against England (3) and West Indies (1). In August 2002, against England at Headingley Stadium, Leeds in the third test match of the series, he scored a 148 in the first innings on a seamer-friendly pitch to set up a famous Indian win.[31] He won the man of the match award for this performance. Dravid's astonishing aggregate of 602 runs in the four match test series against England also fetched him the man of the series award. In 2003–2004 season, Dravid scored three double centuries, one each against New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan. Against Australia at Adelaide in second match of the four match series, the batting pair of Dravid and VVS Laxman proved to be Australia's nemesis again. In the first innings, India were looking down the barrel at 4 wickets down for 85 runs in reply to Australia's massive 556 when the duo joined hands. By the time their partnership was broken, the pair had put on 303 runs. Laxman was dismissed for 148 while Dravid went on make 233. At that time, this was the highest individual score by an Indian batsman overseas. By the time Dravid was done, India was only 33 short of Australia's first innings score. Dravid followed this with an unbeaten 72 under immense pressure in the second innings to set up a famous victory.[32] Dravid scored 619 runs in that four-match series against Australia at an average of 103.16 and won the man of the series award. During the later part of the season, Dravid, in Ganguly's absence, led India to its first test victory over Pakistan in Pakistan in the first test match at Multan. In the third and the final match of the series At Rawalpindi, Dravid stroked a masterly 270 to take India to a historic test series win over Pakistan.[33] In 2010 scored 191 run in inning to reach 31st test century. On 16 August 2009 Dravid was called back to the Indian ODI team following his good show at that years IPL and the struggle of the younger players' problems against the short ball. Playing styleWith a strong technique, he has been the backbone for the Indian cricket team. Beginning with the reputation of being a defensive batsman who should be confined to Test cricket, he was dropped from ODIs as he was slow in making runs. However, in a period of his career he began consistently scoring runs in ODIs as well, earning him the award of ICC player of the year. His nickname of 'The Wall' in Reebokadvertisements has now become a tribute to his consistency. Dravid has scored 31 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 53.31, including 5 double centuries. In one-dayers too he has an impressive average of 39.49, although at a strike rate of 71.22. He is one of the few Indians who average more at away Test matches than at home, averaging about 5 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches.[34] As of 23 September 2010, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 55.53 as against his home Test average of 50.76,[34] and his average for away ODI stands at 37.93[35] as against home ODI average of 43.11.[36] In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 66.34 in Tests[37] and 50.69 in ODIs.[38] Dravid's sole Test wicket was that of Ridley Jacobs in the fourth Test against the West Indies during the 2001–2002 series. While he has no pretensions to being a bowler, Dravid often kept wicket for India in ODIs. He has since delegated the wicket-keeping gloves, first to Parthiv Patel and more recently to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dravid is now purely a batsman, one who has averaged 63.51 in matches played since 1 January 2000. Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record. He also holds the record for the greatest number of innings since debut before being dismissed for a duck. His highest scores in ODIs and Tests are 153 and 270 respectively. Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270). Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage(%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests.[39] In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds – three of them double-centuries – and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored. He was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year 2000. Though primarily a defensive batsman,Dravid has scored 50 not out in 22 balls(Strike Rate-227.27)vs NewZealand in Hydrabad on 15 Nov,2003,second fastest 50 among Indians.Only Ajit Agarkar 67 of 21 balls is faster than Dravid. In 2004, Dravid was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. On 7 September 2004, he was awarded the inaugural Player of the year award and the Test player of the year by the International Cricket Council, ICC (associated image below). Dravid's batting average of 95.46 in the past year has made him the only Indian to be in the Test team of the year. On 18 March 2006, Dravid played his 100th Test against England in Mumbai. In 2005, a biography of Rahul Dravid written by Devendra Prabhudesai was published, 'The Nice Guy Who Finished First'. In the 2005 ICC Awards he was the only Indian to be named to the World one-day XI. In 2006, it was announced that he would remain captain of the Indian team up to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. After the England Series however, he stepped down as captain of India due to personal reasons. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over as ODI captain. Anil Kumble replaced him in test matches. In 2007, he was dropped from the Indian ODI Squad following poor series against Australia. Dravid went back to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 218 against Mumbai. In 2008, he made 93 in the first innings of the Perth test, the highest score of the match, to help India win and make the series 1–2. However, he was ignored by selectors for the subsequent one-day tri-series. After a barren run in Test matches in 2008, Dravid came under increasing media pressure to retire or be dropped. In the Second Test against England in Mohali, he scored 136, putting on a triple-century stand with Gautam Gambhir. After reaching 10,000 test runs milestone, he was quoted saying, "It's a proud moment for sure. For me, growing up, I dreamt of playing for India. When I look back, I probably exceeded my expectations with what I have done over the last 10 to 12 years. I never had an ambition to do it because I never believed – it is just a reflection of my longevity in the game."[40]
TeamsInternational
Indian first-classIndian Premier LeagueEnglish countyControversiesBall-Tampering IncidentIn January 2004 Dravid was found guilty of ball tampering during an ODI with Zimbabwe. Match referee Clive Lloyd adjudged the application of an energy sweet to the ball as a deliberate offence although Dravid himself denied this was his intent.[41] Lloyd emphasised that television footage caught Dravid putting a lozenge on the ball during the Zimbabwean innings on Tuesday night at the Gabba.[41] According to the ICC's Code of Conduct, players are not allowed to apply substances to the ball other than sweat and saliva.[41] Dravid was fined half of his earnings from the match.[41] Indian coach John Wright came out in defence of Dravid, stating that "It was an innocent mistake". Wright argued that Dravid had been trying to apply saliva to the ball when parts of a losenge he had been chewing stuck to the ball; Dravid then tried to wipe it off.[42] ICC regulations prevented Dravid from commenting about the issue, but former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly also stated that Dravid's act was "just an accident".[42] Multan DeclarationOne of Dravid's most debated decisions was taken in March 2004, when he was standing in as captain for an injured Sourav Ganguly. The Indian first innings was declared at a point when Sachin Tendulkar was at 194 with 16 overs remaining on Day 2.[43] Rahul Dravid has had a mixed record when leading India in Tests. India lost the Karachi Test in 2006, giving Pakistan the series 1–0. In March 2006, India lost the Mumbai Test, giving England its first Test victory in India since 1985, enabling Flintoff's men to draw the series 1–1. While the loss in Karachi could be put down to several Indian batsmen playing badly, the defeat in Mumbai was arguably the result of Dravid's decision to bowl first on a flat dry pitch which later deteriorated and ended with an Indian collapse in the run chase. Coincidentally, it was Dravid's 100th test match in which the Indians were all out for 100 runs in the second innings. He was criticised by Vijay Mallya for not picking the team with right balance after the Bangalore Royal Challengers finished seventh out of the eight teams that played in the 2008 Indian Premier League.[44] After India failed to qualify for the Finals of the DLF Cup, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was criticised by former all-rounder Ravi Shastri who said that he was not assertive enough and let Greg Chappell make too many decisions.[45] When asked for a response, Dravid said that Shastri, while a 'fair critic', was 'not privy' to the internal decision-making process of the team.[46] BiographiesRahul Dravid has 2 biographies written on his career:
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