Brilliant captain to excellent mentor: Happy Birthday, Indian cricket's selfless servant Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid made his international debut in 1996. He went onto represent India in 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and a solitary T20I.

At the time of his debut, no one knew the various roles Dravid would don for the betterment of Indian cricket. To date, he continues to contribute wholeheartedly for the Indian cricket.

When Dravid started to make a noise in international cricket, many termed him as a Test specialist for his slow approach, textbook technique and patience needed to grind it out for countless hours.

He proved his critics right to be fit for Tests, amassing 13,288 runs in 164 matches at an average of 52.31 with 36 hundreds and 63 half-centuries. Nonetheless, he proved the same critics wrong by making a strong statement that he isn't just a Test player.

While many believed Dravid wasn't fit for ODI cricket, he finished as the highest run-getter in the 1999 ODI World Cup (461 runs). Further, he became a regular in the middle-over, playing the enabler and finisher's role with perfection.

During his captaincy-era, Dravid also opened the innings and formed some memorable partnerships with Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, etc.

His ODI numbers read as follows:

Matches- 344

Runs- 10, 899

50s - 83

100s - 12

When Sourav Ganguly-led India needed a keeper-batsman, for the better balance of the side, the then captain turned towards his deputy in Dravid. While Dravid had kept wickets during his early playing days, The Wall was reluctant at first.

However, Dravid stepped up knowing how it could benefit Team India and took up the gloves. For the unversed, he ended the 2003 ODI World Cup with third-most dismissals overall (16) along with playing some crucial knocks (versus England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, etc).

Dravid kept wickets for a good amount of time before MS Dhoni stepped up.

Dravid took over as India's captain post Sourav Ganguly's tenure. It wasn't the most ideal period in Indian cricket, due to the turmoil between Ganguy-Greg Chappell (then India coach), but The Wall once again excelled for India in crisis situation.

Though many remember Dravid's captaincy mainly for him leading India in one of their most disastrous ODI WCs, in 2007, he was much more than that.

Under Dravid, India won 8 Tests (out of 25 matches), 42 ODIs (79 overall) and completed 17 successful run-chases on the trot. The former Indian captain also led India to away Test series wins in England and West Indies. His own performances also continued to blossom despite leadership duties (especially accelerating effortlessly in ODIs).

Dravid took over as India's U-19 and A side's coach and performed the role with perfection from 2016-2019. 

Under Dravid, India were runners-up in the 2016 U-19 World Cup and champions in the following edition (with Prithvi Shaw as captain). The former Indian captain also groomed several Indian stars during their time with the A side under Dravid's coaching.

The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Ishan Porel, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik and Krunal Pandya and several others have benefitted from playing under 'coach Dravid'.

After serving as the India A and U-19 coach, Dravid served as the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), in Bengaluru from 2019 onwards. 

Under him, the NCA ensured that young talents were groomed and ready for the international level. Moreover, stars Indian players who got injured were also closely monitored under the watchful eyes of Dravid & Co. at the NCA.

Dravid's role in the NCA has been assured Team India of comprising a formidable bench strength (across formats).

After serving as the India A and U-19 coach and being the NCA head, Dravid continues to serve Indian cricket as the national side's head coach, replacing Ravi Shastri post the T20 World Cup 2021 edition.

Dravid has nurtured and seen the rise of many Indian cricketers, who have now become an integral part of the side or are touted to be the future stars. Hence, his tactical awareness, composure, knack of handling youngsters and overall stature will help Team India across formats.

For the unversed, Dravid wasn't willing to take over as the full-time coach (as he didn't want to be away from his family for long). However, he agreed to step up once again -- in a new avatar -- as the national side and their fans have hopes pinned on him to take them to their first-ever ICC title since 2013.

Irrespective of how his tenure goes as India coach, Dravid continues to give it all to Indian cricket despite retiring in 2012. There's no one like Dravid!