Rahul Dravid retires
Indian batting giant Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket in a press conference at Bangalore on Friday.
Laying to rest months of speculation following a disastrous tour of Australia, Dravid said he was sad but proud at calling time on a tremendous career.
He was accompanied at the conference by his former teammate, captain and current KSCA president Anil Kumble and BCCI president N. Srinivasan.
Having made his debut in 1996 and played 164 Tests overall, Dravid leaves the game with 36 Test hundreds, a Test average of 52.31, as the second highest run getter in Test cricket (13,288 runs), the highest number of catches in Tests (210), as the only man to have scored centuries in every Test playing nation and with the double distinction of having scored more than 10,000 runs each in both Tests as well as ODIs.
Despite a slump since 2007, he held on to his place in the team with valuable innings and had his richest year in 2011 where he was India's sore bright spot on the dull tour of West Indies and disastrous one of England. He scored 5 centuries in the year but his failure on the tour of Australia brought back calls for his retirement along with those of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.
He retired from limited overs internationals in 2011 on the tour of England after not being a regular part of the squad since 2007. He scored 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs with 12 centuries and took 196 catches, even serving as the wicketkeeper in India's run to the final in the 2003 World Cup.
Besides the big numbers, Dravid leaves as one of the most respected statesmen of the game, a cricketer admired throughout the world for his determination and conduct, a doyen of classical batting and a humble figure.
Tributes poured in from many greats and stars of the game, expressing their tribute to the universally loved player.
Tags: Rahul Dravid.
Post a comment
Notify me of follow-up comments?
Post comment to Facebook
subscribe to rss 
Related News
Team RCB
Fan Club Updates
Latest comments