Rahul Dravid Birthday Special: Here’s a look at The Wall’s finest Test innings, in pics

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid, commonly known as ‘The Wall’, is renowned for weathering the storm and helping his side turn the tables after being completely down and out. As the former Indian skipper celebrates his 50th birthday on Wednesday, let’s have a look at some of his finest knocks in international cricketWhen one thinks about Dravid’s greatest knocks, it is hard to go past his 180-run innings against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001. This knock by the batter is still viewed as one of the grittiest knocks in the longest format of the gameAnother knock is his 270-run innings against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 2004. The three-match series was levelled at 1-1 and there was pressure on the Indian side to register their first Test series win in Pakistan. Dravid had been out of sorts in the previous two matches, but in the game, the former Indian captain blasted his detractors with a 200-plus knockDravid’s 146-run performance against England at the Oval in 2011 is one of his most underappreciated efforts. India batters had a dismal series, and the team was 0-3 down heading into the last match. Dravid opened the batting and went on to score an unbroken 146. His innings did not save the game for India, but he went on to become the team’s leading run-scorer in the seriesDravid also demonstrated remarkable team spirit by taking up the duties of a wicket-keeper in the ODI format since the team management thought they might play an extra bowler if a well-set batsman also served as the wicket-keeperDravid is the only player to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships. He has played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs, and one T20I for India
The batter finally announced his retirement from international cricket in March 2012He finished his career with 48 international centuries. Dravid took over the head coach’s role of Team India in November 2021