Away average is 57.
Averages 66 in matches won (43), 78 in matches won abroad (18) - 76 without Bangladesh.
Has won 5 MoM awards in matches India has won (all in different countries); 9 awards in all.
Has scored 25 or less in 43% of his 227 innings -the lowest failure rate on this list. Quite staggering when you take into account his last two years of poor scoring (where he averages 33 in 25 Tests).
Has made 26 hundreds and 53 fifties.
Captained India in 25 Tests with a success percentage of 32 - the second highest in Indian cricket. This included series wins in West Indies and England.
Strike rate: 42 runs per 100 balls - amongst the lowest on this list.
Despite a distaste of opening the batting, shares a 409-run opening partnership with Sehwag - 3rd highest in Test history.
Scored more runs at no. 3 more than any Indian - 8116 at an average of 54.
The typically shallow media-given epithet of "The Wall" does not do justice to India's greatest Test cricketer. He's been no mere blocker but an intense fighter who has worn down some of the greatest teams of his generation with an astute combination of defence and attack. Regardless of the weather conditions, the state of the pitch or the buoyancy of the opposition, or indeed even his own form, the very visible aligning of mind and body to the task ahead has no better role-model than a top-class Rahul Dravid innings. More than his aesthetic copybook style, his immaculate balance or his all-around-the-wicket shot-making ability, it is that fierce intent readying itself for a long fight that is his hallmark. Everything about Dravid in the middle suggests the long haul - and that's more about the mind than anything else. "The Will" is probably more apt, though the changed letter "i" is the least abused one in his cricket vocabulary. He has been one of India's most selfless cricketers despite his stature (which normally gives the license to be the opposite in this part of the world) - has batted in every batting position between 1 and 7, opened for his team (17 times) despite his distaste for it, thrown his wicket away when his team was looking for quick runs, risked unpopularity as captain by controversially declaring when his most iconic team-mate did not do the same - but more than anything else, never ever wasted his wicket for personal gratification. It is reassuring then that Dravid has succeeded in every country, under all pitch/ weather conditions and won more matches for India than anybody else. The last two years have seen a rapid decline in his form and his average has receded from 58 to 52 (despite the voluntary abdication of his captaincy status to concentrate on his batting). And yet, as someone who has always relished being out of his comfort zone every once in a while, was the highest scorer (93) in the most famous Indian Test match victory of this period - Perth 2008. His one major weakness - the propensity to get bogged down when not at his best (which has affected the team at times) perhaps also underlines his over-dependence on the cerebral. He will remain the greatest role model in Indian cricket because he very visibly put his team ahead of himself every time, and all that while optimising his own talents through sheer sweat and grit.
| Series locked at 1-1 and the decider expected to be a tense, close fight. Pakistan dismissed for 224, but Sehwag dismissed first ball. Dravid joins makeshift opener Parthiv Patel the wicket-keeper. They survive a few anxious moments (Shoaib Akhtar with his tail up after all), and the first day ends with India 23-1. Next morning, | Dravid's solidity calms things down and Patel begins to open up. Then, Patel is caught behind at 129 and Tendulkar too 1 run later. 130-3, match in the balance again. Laxman and Ganguly however get classy seventies, and Yuvraj an uncharacteristically slow forty, but it is Dravid who is the constant, who holds the whole show together. Landmark | after landmark is crossed, and with the team score around 550, Dravid begins to go for quick runs. He is 8th out for 270 (over 12 hours at the crease, 495 balls, 34 fours, 1 six). India reaches 600 and comfortably wins by an innings with a day to spare. |
| Australia makes 556 and India is 85-4. In olden times, game over. But this is a new-age India led by Ganguly with Dravid as the jewel in his crown. And he shines like never before. First, with Laxman, reversing the famous Kolkata partnership of 2001, with Dravid taking | the lead this time - they put on 303 (Laxman 148) in six hours. Then, with the wicket-keeper and the tail, who add 135 with him, till Dravid is last out for 233 (almost 10 hours of batting, 446 balls, 23 fours, 1 six). Australia collapse in the second innings, set India 230 to | win. Then again, Dravid back at 48-1, anchors the innings and stays till the end with 72 (4 hours of batting, 170 balls, 7 fours). India wins by 4 wickets, and lead the Australians for the first time ever in their backyard. |
| In bad form, Dravid has lost his number 3 slot to Laxman, mid-match. In the second innings, India is following on 274 behind and now is 52-1 but it is Laxman who has gone out to bat. He is in great touch no doubt (as evidenced by his fluent 59 in India's first innings of 171) and it is a logically sound move, but it still hurts. Dravid watches in the dressing room as India lose Das and then Tendulkar cheaply (115-3) and then as Laxman and Ganguly flower for a while, till Ganguly is rattled by some 'mental disintegration" in the middle and then caught behind with India 232-4. Dravid walks out now (ironically in the same batting position Laxman had batted in the first innings) and joins the same man who has | replaced him. The day ends at 245-4 (Laxman on a superb 109); most expect the match to be over the next day, Australia to continue their world-record winning streak of 16 Tests and thus win the series here itself. But the earth shifts on its axis. Next morning, Waugh's attacking field settings encourage a low-risk counter attack from the two, especially Laxman. By lunch, they add 122 more, Laxman on 171, Dravid 50. They both open up thereafter, feeding off each other by now. There are no mistakes (despite the knife edge possibility of a quick end to the match if either of them is dismissed) - they're both in a rarefied zone much to the frustration of McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Warne. Dravid reaches | his 100 (off 205 balls) and shows more emotion than he ever has, or ever would. By tea - 115 more - Laxman 227, Dravid 106. They're tired but the enormity of what they're doing is keeping them going. Five other bowlers are tried by a frustrated Waugh, in vain. By close of play, 98 more are added - India are 589-4, Laxman 275*, Dravid 155*. They have batted all day! Laxman gets out for 281 next morning and Dravid is finally run out for 180 going for quick runs. India set Australia 384. Squeezing even more poetry out of reality, the Indians dismiss the bizarrely aggressive Australians for 212 giving India her most famous and landmark victory. |
| Overcast conditions, green tinged wicket. Ganguly wins the toss, decides to bat - frowns from the experts, glint in the collective English eye. India 15-1; Sehwag departs after struggling to make 8 in half an hour. Rahul Dravid joins Sanjay Bangar. The ball darting around, swinging viciously. Matter of time. Knowing smiles. The bowlers enjoying the shape to the slips, ooh that arc. Batsmen leaving the ball alone. Hoggard, Caddick, Tudor, Flintoff - bouncing, tempting, attacking off-stump. Play and miss. Uneven bounce. Keeping low - Dravid digging it | out. Bouncing viciously - Dravid fending it off. Calm and patience. Picking up singles and occasional boundaries through the many gaps. Field gradually getting less attacking, pitch slowly but surely settling down. The spinner Giles coming on. No change of approach. Suddenly panic from the English. India has passed 150. For just one wicket - in these conditions? They should be 5 down, at least! Where did we screw up - think the English. Here's the next ball - think Dravid and Bangar. Finally, at 185, Bangar nicks one. Tendulkar comes in, | Flintoff is on. Swaying away from the line, fending him off. Oohs and aahs. Giles bowls leg stump line to keep runs down. Dravid sends Hoggard's ball to the legside rope. Everyone in the dressing room stands up to clap. Dravid (100 in 220 balls; 14 fours) raises his bat. At stumps, Day 1, India 236-2, Dravid 110. Mission accomplished. Things would get much easier thereafter - Tendulkar would get 193, Ganguly 128. India with 628 would win by an innings. But Dravid's 148, which tamed the first day's conditions and carried on, would get the MoM award. |
| In two out of the three Tests, West Indies had narrowly escaped with a draw. And now, in the last Test, India had won the toss, decided to bat (against conventional wisdom in these conditions) and was 3-2 as Dravid the captain walked out (he'd occupied no. 4 right through this series since Tendulkar was absent). During the walk to the middle, did any thoughts of a jinx go through his head? Or at 58-4? Or 78-5? Surely at 91-6? The captain | fought back with his most trusted ally, so what if he was a bowler. Dravid and Kumble took the score to 184 before Kumble fell (45) and 13 runs later Dravid nicked one to the keeper (81 in five and a half hours). 3 runs later India was all out. West Indies collapsed from 42-1 to 103 all out (Harbhajan Singh 5-13 in 4.3 overs). Dravid walked out to bat again at 6-2 (groan). 49-3 (bang). 76-5 (creak). The captain did it all over again. Partnerships with the | lower order, taking the score to 154 before being castled (68 in 166 balls; 12 fours). Kumble got into the act then (6-78) and India won by 46 runs. India's first series victory in West Indies after 35 years. The captain did it almost single-handedly with the bat - in fact, Dravid occupied the batting crease longer than the entire West Indian team in both innings combined. |
HONOURABLE MENTION:
| This was still the second match in a 3-test series when it took place. India 0-1 down, SA powered to 362 by Gibbs (196). India knocked out for 201 by Pollock (5-40). SA set India 395 to win in a day and half a session. India 0-1, Das gone, caught behind off Pollock. Dravid joins Deep Dasgupta (makeshift opener and wicket-keeper) and they survive 17 more tense overs before close | of play (28-1). Next morning, they look the bowling attack consisting ofPollock, Hayward, Kallis, Ntini and Boje in the eye and begin grinding it down. At lunch, they are together. At tea, they still look secure. Dravid's dismissal at 171 (for 87; 241 balls; 12 fours) and Dasgupta's at 184 (for 63; 281 balls; 7 fours) is of little consequence. A crucial match has been saved the good, | old-fashioned way - quite a rarity in the post-1990 era. Sadly, later the next match would be controversially deemed unofficial (due to the fracas between the Indians and Mike Denness - who had banned 3 Indian players for misbehaviour) and the series terminated here but the grit and sweat of Dravid and Dasgupta could not be forgotten. |