Indian cricketer - the one and only Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid.
Dravid hails from the South Indian state of Karnataka. His father and uncle played cricket, perhaps that's what aroused his interest inthe game. He started at the age of 12 and like most Indians his early cricketing was in the streets.
His school, St. Joseph's had a goodteam and Dravid did well in the junior tournaments to merit selection in the State under-15, under-17 and under-19 tournaments. At one timehe was captain of the Under-19 team and was very successful with the bat.
In 1991 he made his Ranji debut against Maharashtra. Batting at number 7, he scored a masterful 82. He got his maiden first classhundred in the next game against Bengal (134 at number 6). The next year brought more success for Rahul as he scored centuries againstteams like Goa and Kerala.
He got tremendous support from great former players like Gundappa Vishwanath, K.K.Tarapore, Roger Binny andBrijesh Patel. All this time he did not neglect his studies - he studied at St.Joseph's College of Commerce and though he had toremain absent from college for long periods of time, he maintained a first class record throughout.
In 1995-96 he broke into the international team for the first time and since then he has delivered consistent and solid performances. Heis admired for his classy and technically correct batting. For a long time he was labelled a Test batsman because of his low strike rate eventhough he showed signs of some explosive batting - we all remember the way he thrashed Alan Donald in a crucial match, driving the fearsome bowler to despair. He has solved the problem of missing out on centuries long ago.
The New Zealand tour in Dec 1998 - Jan 1999 saw him come into his own and cement his place in the One-Day team. No longer does he plod around, wasting hittable balls. His strike rate is comparable with the best and his average has also risen to a decent level. This shows his strength of character, since he has come back strongly after being outof the team for so long.
At World Cup '99 he moved into the realms of greatness with a fantastic performance which saw everybody singing his praises. Today Rahul is an integral part of the Indian team, both in One-Day and Test matches.
Rahul's abilities are not confined to batting alone. He bowls right-arm offbreaks and keeps wickets too, both of which he has done for the country at some time or the other.
Infact, at the World Cup he did a good job in the absence of Mongia. As a consequence many experts are suggesting that he be groomed as a wicket-keeper batsman. This will allow the selectors to drop the non-performing Mongia andreplace him with a good all-rounder.
