Rahul Dravid, India's overseas hero
Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid has been recommended for the position of overseas batting consultant for the Indian cricket team. This will probably be the most specific position anyone has ever held in the history of the world cricket. If Dravid is finally given this position in the Indian team, it will be a master stroke by the BCCI. Let us see why!
Dravid's career in numbers
In his 16-year long career, Dravid scored 13288 test runs at an average of 52.31, hitting 36 centuries and 63 half-centuries, with the highest score of 270. He has 10889 ODI runs to his name, with 12 hundreds and 83 fifties.
India's most dependable batsman in away tests
Rahul Dravid was not only India's most dependable batsman on overseas tours but he also led India to several test victories abroad. During his playing years, he scored 1577 runs at an average of 65.70 in the 15 test matches won by India overseas (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). In 32 drawn tests abroad, he scored 10 centuries with an average of 75+.
Most deliveries faced by a batsman
Indian cricket's ' batting wall' for more than a decade, Rahul Dravid faced 31,258 deliveries in his test career, the most by any batsman in cricketing history. He also holds the record of spending the maximum time on the pitch.
Dravid's numbers better than Sachin's?
While Tendulkar and Dravid shared a number of memorable partnerships, Dravid has a slight edge over Tendulkar. Dravid has won eight 'Man of the Match' awards in overseas tests, the most by any Indian cricketer. On the other hand, Sachin has just five, with only one coming in a winning cause (Bangladesh excluded). In India's wins abroad, Dravid's batting average is better than Sachin's.
A prolific fielder too
Dravid fielded at short leg, slip and also donned the hat of a wicketkeeper. As a fielder, he has taken 210 catches from 164 matches, another world record.
Leading the way here too
Known for his long innings with the bat, Dravid has more than 700 partnerships to his name, 50 more than anyone else. He also has 88 century stands with other batsmen, along with having 10+ century stands with four batsmen, the most by any cricketer in the history. As a pair, Tendulkar and Dravid, has 6920 test runs, the most by any duo.
Two 300-plus stands in ODI
Rahul Dravid has been a part of two of the three 300-plus stands in the history of ODI cricket. Dravid and Tendulkar scored 331 in Hyderabad, whereas Dravid and Ganguly scored 318 against Sri Lanka, both in 1999.
