The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and former spin bowling legend Harbhajan Singh extended wishes to former captain and head coach Rahul Dravid on his 52nd birthday. BCCI took to X and extended their wishes to the batting legend, who made a name for himself with an impenetrable defence and rock-solid technique that earned him consistent runs.
Former teammate Harbhajan also had a special message for ‘The Wall’, calling him an “epitome of discipline and commitment”.
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“Heartiest birthday greetings to “The Wall” of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid. As a cricketer, he was the epitome of discipline and commitment, a player who could be relied upon to anchor the innings under any circumstance and perform when the team needed him most. May he always be blessed with good health, happiness, and success in everything he does. Wishing him a phenomenal and remarkable birthday which he greatly deserves,” posted Harbhajan on X.
This batting legend represented India in 164 matches and scored 13,288 runs at an average of 52.31. He has 36 centuries and 63 fifties in the longer format, with the best score of 270. He is India’s second-highest run-getter in Tests and overall at fourth place.
In 344 ODIs, Dravid scored 10,889 runs at an average of 39.16. He has 12 centuries and 83 fifties in the format, with the best score of 153. He is the fifth-highest run-getter for India in ODIs and overall at number ten.
He scored 31 runs in the only T20I he played for India.
He has also represented RCB (2008-2010) and Rajasthan Royals (2011-13) in IPL. In 89 IPL matches, he scored 2,174 runs at an average of 28.23. He has 11 fifties under his belt in IPL and has scored his runs at a strike rate of 115.52.
Later on in his career, Dravid accomplished plenty of success as a coach, such as the ICC U19 World Cup 2018 and the 2024 T20 World Cup. He also reached the finals of the ICC World Test Championship 2023 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, with the latter resulting in a heartbreaking loss to Australia after a dominating 10-match streak. However, the T20 WC months later in Barbados served as a perfect send-off gift to the legend.
The development of prominent Indian stars such as Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Sarfaraz Khan, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar etc under his tenure as U19 coach won him a lot of acclaim.
