This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Rahul, a popular male name in India, has a variety of meanings. The earliest meaning found in the Upanishads is "conqueror of all miseries." Rahul also means "traveler" in Arabic. Buddha's son was also called Rahul, meaning "relation".

Look up Rahul in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

People named Rahul[link]

• Rahul Bajaj, industrialist
• Rahul Banerjee (archer), archer
• Rahul Banerjee (actor), actor
• Rahul Bhatt, fitness trainer, actor and son of Mahesh Bhatt
• Rahul Bose, actor
• Rahul Chandran, Policy analyst
• Rahul Deshpande, Indian classical singer
• Rahul Dev, model, actor
• Rahul Dev Burman, music director
• Rahul Dholakia, Indian Film Director-Producer-Screenwriter
• Rahul Dravid Cricketer, Indian cricket team
• Rahul Gandhi, Indian politician and son of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi
• Rahul Gunderjaharagand, Viceroy of Patna, 1854–1866
• Rahul Kanwat, cricketer
• Rahul Khanna, Bollywood actor
• Rahul Kumar, footballer
• Rahul Mahajan (blogger), noted American blogger and author
• Rahul Mahajan (politician), son of Late Pramod Mahajan, a prominent Indian politician
• Rahul Mukerjee, Professor of Operations Management
• Rahul Nambiar, Indian playback singer and live performer
• Rahul Nanda, Businessman
• Rahul Prasad, cricketer
• Rahul Raj (composer), South Indian composer
• Rahul Ram, musician
• Rahul Roy, Bollywood actor
• Rahul Roy (accountant), Accountant
• Rahul Saini, Indian author
• Rahul Sanghvi, cricketer
• Rahul Sankrityayan, historian, Buddhist religious scholar, Marxist philosopher, prolific writer and polymath
• Rahul Sarpeshkar, scientist
• Rahul Sharma (Hong Kong cricketer) (born 1960), Hong Kong cricketer
• Rahul Sharma (musician) (born 1972), Indian classical musician
• Rahul Sharma (Indian cricketer) (born 1986), Indian cricketer
• Rahul Singh, Canadian paramedic
• Rahul Sood, founder of VooDooPC
• Rahul Vaidya, singer, Indian Idol runner up
• Rahul Varma, playwright

Awards[link]

• Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan Award

Incident[link]

• Rahul Raj encounter

Media[link]

• Rahul (film), 2001 Hindi film by Prakash Jha
• Rahul's Arranged Marriage, 2005 Canadian film by Anant Mathur
• Rahul Missing Case

Process[link]

• Rahul Mohindar Oscillator

See also[link]

• Raul

Rahul Gandhi
Member of Lok Sabha from Amethi
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
General Secretary of the Indian National Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 2007
Chairperson of IYC and NSUI
Incumbent
Assumed office 2007
Personal details
Born	(1970-06-19) 19 June 1970 (age 42) New Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress
Relations	Rajiv Gandhi (father) Sonia Gandhi (mother) Priyanka Vadra (sister)
Residence	New Delhi, India
Alma mater	Rollins College Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Member of Parliament
As of 5 June, 2011

Rahul Gandhi ([ˈraːɦʊl ˈɡaːnd̪ʱiː]; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India, representing the Amethi constituency.^[1] Gandhi is the general-secretary of the Indian National Congress.^[2] He is the grandson of Feroze Gandhi and Indira (née Nehru) Gandhi, and fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Early life and career[link]

Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970 ^[3] as the first of the two children of Rajiv Gandhi, who later became the Prime Minister of India and Sonia Gandhi, who later became President of Indian National Congress, and as the grandson of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He is also the great-grandson of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Priyanka Vadra is his younger sister.^[4]

Rahul Gandhi attended St. Columba's School, Delhi^[5] before entering The Doon School in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), also his father's alma mater,^[6] from 1981–83. Meanwhile, his father had joined politics and became the Prime Minister on October 31, 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Due to the security threats faced by Indira Gandhi's family from Sikh extremists, Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka were home-schooled since then.^[7] Rahul Gandhi joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate education but moved to Harvard University after he completed the first year examinations.^[8] In 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE^[9] during an election rally, he shifted to Rollins College due to security concerns and completed his B.A. in 1994.^[10] During this period, he assumed the pseudonym Raul Vinci and his identity was known only to the university officials and security agencies.^[8][11] He further went on to obtain a M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995.^[12] After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London.^[13] In 2002 he was one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd.^[14]

Political career[link]

In March 2004, he announced his entry into politics by announcing that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his father's former constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament.^[15] The seat had been held by his mother until she transferred to the neighbouring seat of Rae Bareilly. The Congress had been doing poorly in Uttar Pradesh, holding only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state at the time.^[16] At the time, this move generated surprise among political commentators, who had regarded his sister Priyanka as being the more charismatic and likely to succeed. It generated speculation that the presence of a young member of India's most famous political family would reinvigorate the Congress party's political fortunes among India's youthful population^[17] In his first interview with foreign media, he portrayed himself as a uniter of the country and condemned "divisive" politics in India, saying that he would try to reduce caste and religious tensions.^[15]

He won with a landslide majority, retaining the family stronghold with a margin of over 100,000 as the Congress unexpectedly defeated the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.^[18] Until 2006 he held no other office.^[19]

Gandhi and his sister, who is married to Robert Vadra, managed their mother's campaign for re-election to Rae Bareilly in 2006, which was won easily with a margin greater than 400,000 votes.^[20]

He was a prominent figure in the Congress campaign for the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections; Congress, however, won only 22 seats with 8.53% of votes.^[21]

Rahul Gandhi was appointed a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 in a reshuffle of the party secretariat.^[22] In the same reshuffle, he was also given charge of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.^[23]

In 2008, senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily mentioned “Rahul-as-PM” idea when the PM of India Manmohan Singh was still abroad.^[24]

Youth politics[link]

In his attempt to prove himself as a youth leader in November 2008 he held interviews at his 12, Tughlak Lane residence in New Delhi to handpick at least 40 people who will make up the think-tank of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), an organisation that he has been keen to transform since he was appointed general secretary in September 2007.^[25]

Under Rahul Gandhi, IYC and NSUI has seen a dramatic increase in members from a two lakhs to twenty five lakhs.^[26]

In various reports it has been proved that Rahul Gandhi has failed in his promise to eliminate family, patronage, money from Youth Congress. It has been seen that an aspiring delegates need to pay a substantial sum as nomination fee. Hence, an aspiring office-bearer with deep pockets sponsors them thereby allowing money power to have a role in the elections.^[27][28][29]

2009 elections[link]

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he retained his Amethi constituency by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of over 333,000 votes. In these elections congress is said to have revived itself in Uttar Pradesh by winning 21 out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats and the majority of the credit for this turnaround is given to Rahul Gandhi.^[30] He spoke at 125 rallies across the country in six weeks.

Lokpal bill[link]

Rahul Gandhi opines that the Lokpal should be made a constitutional body and it should be made accountable to the Parliament, just like the Election Commission. He also feels that Lokpal alone cannot root out corruption. This statement came out on 25 August 2011, on the 10th day of Anna Hazare's fast. This statement was considered as a delaying tactic by the opposition and Team Anna's members. It was consequently slammed by prominent opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.^[31] The Parliamentary Standing Committee led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi tabled the Lok Bill report in the Rajya Sabha on 9 December 2011. Almost all points proposed by Team Anna were ignored while Rahul Gandhi's wish for Lokpal to be made into a constitutional body was implemented. Anna Hazare believes that Rahul Gandhi is responsible for the weak and ineffective bill proposed by the standing committee of parliament.^[32]

Land Acquisition Protests Arrest[link]

On 11 May 2011 Rahul Gandhi was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police at Bhatta Parsaul village after he turned out in support of agitating farmers demanding more compensation for their land being acquired for a highway project.^[33] He was released after being held for about three hours and later returned to New Delhi. He was to be presented before a Sub-Divisional Magistrate on 12 May 2011.^[34]

2012 Assembly elections[link]

Rahul Gandhi campaigned extensively in the 2012 Assembly elections, especially in the highly politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the hope that his popularity would help bring Congress back to power. However, the party did very poorly in the elections winning only 38 seats, a meagre increase of six seats from the 2007 elections^[35]. The Samajwadi Party and its new leader, Akhilesh Yadav swept the elections in UP, and Mr Yadav was sworn as the youngest Chief Minister of UP. The Congress party suffered humiliating defeats in other states (Goa and Punjab), and a close shave in Uttarahakhand. With only one win in the state of Manipur, the Indian press was quick to question the future of Mr Gandhi as the leader of the Congress party.^[36]

Political and legal issues[link]

Comparison of RSS and SIMI[link]

Rahul Gandhi has been critical of nationalist groups like the RSS and compared them to terrorist organizations like SIMI.^[37][38] According to a cable leaked by Wikileaks, in 2009, he allegedly shared concerns with the American ambassador to India Timothy Roemer that radicalized Hindu groups may pose a bigger threat to India than Islamic terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.^[39][40] His comments on radical Hindu groups were criticized by the opposition party, as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.^[41]

Sukanya Devi[link]

It has been alleged that Rahul Gandhi had detained a girl and her parents since 2007 after the family accused the Gandhi scion of raping the girl. On 01st Mar 2011, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi,^[42] however the allegations were found to be false. Allahabad high court not only dismissed the case after the girl in question appeared in the court, but slapped a 50 lakh penalty against the petitioner ordering a CBI inquiry against her and websites publishing the story.^[43]

13th Jul 2011 Terror Attack remarks[link]

On 14th Jul 2011, a day after the serial bombing in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi gave a statement that "it was very difficult to stop every single terror attack". The remark resulted in a number of strong criticism from a number of Shiv Sena party members.^[44]

See also[link]

• Political Families of The World

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rahul Gandhi

• Profile at BBC News
• Profile at Govt. of India website
• Rahul Gandhi collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Rahul Gandhi collected news and commentary at The Times of India

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (March 2012)

Rahul Dravid

Personal information
Full name	Rahul Sharad Dravid
Born	(1973-01-11) 11 January 1973 (age 39) Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nickname	The Wall, Jammy, Mr. Dependable
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm off spin
Role	Batsman, Wicketkeeper
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 207)	20 June 1996 v England
Last Test	24 January 2012 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 339)	3 April 1996 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	16 September 2011 v England
ODI shirt no.	19
Only T20I	31 August 2011 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1990–present	Karnataka
2000	Kent
2003	Scotland
2008–2010	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011–present	Rajasthan Royals
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	164	344	298	449
Runs scored	13,288	10,889	23,794	15,271
Batting average	52.31	39.16	55.33	42.30
100s/50s	36/63	12/83	68/117	21/112
Top score	270	153	270	153
Balls bowled	120	186	617	477
Wickets	1	4	5	4
Bowling average	39.00	42.50	54.60	105.25
5 wickets in innings	0	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	1/18	2/43	2/16	2/43
Catches/stumpings	210/0	196/14	353/1	233/17
Source: Cricinfo, 30 January 2012

Rahul Sharad Dravid  pronunciation (help·info) (born 11 January 1973) is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test and One Day International teams. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2000.^[1] Dravid was also awarded the ICC Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year at the inaugural awards ceremony held in 2004.^[2] Dravid also holds the record of having taken the most number of catches in Test matches. On 9 March 2012, he announced his retirement from international cricket.^[3]

On 7 August 2011 after getting a surprise call to play in ODI series against England he declared his retirement from One Day Internationals and T20.^[4]

Popularly hailed as "The Wall of Indian cricket", Dravid is regarded by many to be one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game. Dravid holds multiple cricketing records. He is only the second player, after Sachin Tendulkar, to reach 13,000 runs in Test cricket.^[5] On 14 February 2007, he became the sixth player overall and the third Indian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly), to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket in cricketing history.^[6] He is the first and only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations.^[7] With more than 200 catches, Dravid currently holds the world record for the most number of catches in Test cricket.^[8] 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.^[9]

On 24 November 2011, he became the second international player to reach 13,000 runs in Test Cricket after Sachin Tendulkar.^[10]

On 14 December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra.^[11]

Dravid has been bowled 55 times in Test cricket, going past Allan Border's previous record of 53.

On 9 March 2012, Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international and first class cricket. Dravid made the announcement with the BCCI president, N Srinivasan and former captain Anil Kumble at a press conference in Bangalore. He was however slated to appear in the 2012 edition of the Indian Premier League as captain of the Rajasthan Royals^[12]

Early life and family[link]

Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.^[13] He belongs to a Maharashtrian^[14] family settled in Bangalore, Karnataka.^[15] 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 at Bangalore University.^[16] 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.^[17] Rahul's talents were first spotted by former cricketer Keki Tarapore who was coaching at a summer coaching camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.^[18] He went on to score a century on debut for his school team.^[15] 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.^[19] His first full season was in 1991–92, when he scored two centuries to finish with 380 runs at an average of 63.3,^[20] and was selected for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy.^[21]

On 4 May 2003, he married Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur.^[22] They have two children, Samit (born 2005)^[23] and Anvay (born 2009).^[24]

Cricketing career[link]

1995–98: Beginning[link]

Dravid in action during a Test match

Dravid 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, replacing Vinod 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.

Dravid scored 95^[25] and held his position on Manjrekar's return for the Third Test, scoring 84.^[26] 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.^[27] He made his first half-century against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in 1996, scoring 90 in his 10th ODI.^[28]

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.^[29][30] 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 success[link]

Dravid 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 2000[link]

Dravid gestures while fielding during a Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2008.

In 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.^[31] 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.^[32]

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^[33] in the first innings after being hit by a Mervyn 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.^[34] 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.^[35] 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.^[36] Dravid was the India's lifesaver in the disastrous tour of England in 2011, which costed India the top rankings in test cricket which they lost 4-0. However, only Dravid stood up and hit up 3 watchful centuries as India tumbled.

Retirement[link]

Rahul Dravid had been dropped from the ODI team in 2009 until he was included in the team in 2011 for a ODI series in England. The decision surprised many, including Dravid himself.^[37] Though Dravid had not officially retired from ODI cricket, he accepted that he didn't expect to be recalled.^[38][39] After being selected, Dravid announced that the series would be his last ODI appearance.^[37] Rahul Dravid played his last ODI innings against England at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Friday, 16 September 2011. He scored a crucial 69 runs from 79 balls before eventually being bowled by Graeme Swann.^[40] He had the distinction of playing his last limited overs international match on his debut match in a T20I. He announced his retirement before playing his first T20I match.^[41]

After the tour of Australia in 2011-12, Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from test and domestic cricket on 9 March 2012, although he will be leading Rajasthan Royals in the 2012 Indian Premier League. Dravid was the second highest run scorer and player with the highest number of catches in test cricket at the time of his retirement.^[42]

Playing style[link]

With 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 Reebok advertisements has now become a tribute to his consistency. Dravid has scored 36 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 53.19, 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.^[43] As of 23 September 2010, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 55.53 as against his home Test average of 50.76,^[43] and his average for away ODI stands at 37.93^[44] as against home ODI average of 43.11.^[45] In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 66.34 in Tests^[46] and 50.69 in ODIs.^[47]

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.^[48] 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.

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Dravid's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

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). On 18 March 2006, Dravid played his 100th Test against England in Mumbai.

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."^[49]

Dravid is also one of the two batsmen to score 10,000 runs at a single batting position and is now the second highest run getter in Test Cricket next to Sachin Tendulkar.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2011)

Praises and Accolades[link]

In 1999,Glenn McGrath is believed to have been said if there was one Indian player who would get an automatic entry into an Australian team filled with stars, it would be Rahul Dravid.^[50]

Facts[link]

• Rahul Dravid is the first batsmen who has registered a score of century in all test playing nations.
• He has played 93 consecutive five day test matches for India
• The first player to score 10000-run at No.3 position
• Rahul Dravid has a record of most number of catches in Test Cricket.^[51]
• His highest knock of 270 runs is the longest innings played by an Indian batsmen in terms of minutes.^[52]
• He holds a record for not being dismissed on a duck for 120 innings consecutive one-day matches.
• He is only the second non-English cricketer to have hit 3 or more centuries in a two different test series in England, the other being Donald Bradman.

Teams[link]

International[link]

• India
• ACC Asian XI
• ICC World XI
• MCC

Indian first-class[link]

• Karnataka
• South Zone

Indian Premier League[link]

• Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Rajasthan Royals

English county[link]

• Kent
• Scotland

Controversies[link]

Ball-tampering incident[link]

In 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.^[53] Lloyd emphasised that television footage caught Dravid putting a lozenge on the ball during the Zimbabwean innings on Tuesday night at the Gabba.^[53] According to the ICC's Code of Conduct, players are not allowed to apply substances to the ball other than sweat and saliva.^[53] Dravid was fined half of his earnings from the match.^[53]

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.^[54] 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".^[54]

Multan declaration[link]

One 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.^[55] 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.^[56] 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.^[57] 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.^[58]

Captaincy Record[link]

Test Matches (Against Other Nations)[link]

Opposition	Span	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw
Australia	2004-2004	2	1	1	0	0
Bangladesh	2007-2007	2	1	0	0	1
England	2006–2007	6	2	1	0	3
New Zealand	2003-2003	1	0	0	0	1
Pakistan	2004–2006	5	1	2	0	2
South Africa	2006–2007	3	1	2	0	0
Sri Lanka	2005-2005	2	1	0	0	1
West Indies	2006-2006	4	1	0	0	3
Total	2003-2007	25	8	6	0	11 [59]

[edit] One Day Internationals (Against Other Nations) ^[60]

Opposition	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR
Australia	6	1	4	0	1
Bangladesh	3	2	1	0	0
Bermuda	1	1	0	0	0
England	13	9	4	0	0
New Zealand	2	0	1	0	1
Pakistan	9	5	4	0	0
Scotland	1	1	0	0	0
South Africa	9	4	5	0	0
Sri Lanka	16	8	6	0	2
West Indies	16	8	8	0	0
Zimbabwe	3	3	0	0	0
Total	79	42	33	0	4 [61]

Biographies[link]

Rahul Dravid has 2 biographies written on his career:

• Rahul Dravid – A Biography written by Vedam Jaishankar (ISBN 978-81-7476-481-2). Publisher: UBSPD Publications. Date: January 2004^[62]
• The Nice Guy Who Finished First written by Devendra Prabhudesai. Publisher: Rupa Publications. Date: November 2005^[63]

Other work[link]

Commercial endorsements[link]

• Reebok: 1996 – present^[64]
• Pepsi: 1997 present^[65]
• Kissan: Unknown^[66]
• Castrol: 2001 – present^[67]
• Hutch: 2003^{[citation needed]}
• Karnataka Tourism: 2004^[68]
• Max Life: 2005 – present^[69]
• Bank of Baroda: 2005 – present^[70]
• Citizen: 2006 – present^[71]
• Skyline Construction: 2006 – present^[72]
• Sansui: 2007^[73]
• Gillette: 2007 – present^[74]
• Samsung: 2002^[75] – 2004^[76]

Social commitments[link]

• Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA)^[77][78]
• UNICEF Supporter and AIDS Awareness Campaign^[79]

See also[link]

cricket portal

• List of international cricket centuries by Rahul Dravid
• List of awards and achievements of Rahul Dravid
• Indian national cricket captains

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rahul Dravid

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rahul Dravid

• Player profile: Rahul Dravid from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Rahul Dravid from CricketArchive
• Player Profile: Rahul Dravid from Yahoo! Cricket
• CricketFundas Interview with Rahul Dravid
• HindustanTimes.com Player Profile
• HowSTAT! statistical profile on Rahul Dravid
• PwC Batsman Rankings
• Rahul Dravid-ToI
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Dravid
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/28114.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/556769.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/556793.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/556782.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556771.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556792.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556766.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556786.html