Rahul Dravid undergoes surgery on injured left upper jaw

Rahul Dravid, who was injured after being hit by a short delivery during the Mirpur Test against Bangladesh underwent a minor corrective surgery

on his injured left upper jaw at the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore on Friday.Maxillofacial surgeon Dr Kishore Nayak performed the surgery, and it is reported that Dravid will be discharged later in the day.

       Manipal Hospital Medical Director Dr H S Balel said, "Rahul Dravid suffered a depressed fracture of the left cheek bone (left zygomatic arch bone) and this was corrected using a standard open approach."

"Dravid will be discharged from hospital and can resume normal activities in about two days," he added.

Dr Balel further said, "Dravid has been advised not to play cricket or any contact sports for about 2-3 weeks by the treating surgeon Dr Kishore Nayak. He will be reassessed for fitness on a regular basis."

The prolific Indian batsman has been left out in the squad in the series against the Proteas beginning on February 6 due to his injury.

Dravid in hospital after being hit on jaw

RAHUL DRAVID has sustained a fractured jaw bone after being struck on the side of his face by a bouncer from Shahadat Hossain on the second day of the Dhaka Test, and is unlikely to play any further part in the match. His condition is "not serious" and there are no signs of a head injury, according to the Indian team manager Arshad Ayub.

"Rahul Dravid was struck by a ball on the side of his face today," Ayub said. "He was taken to the hospital and a fracture was detected. He is unlikely to participate for the rest of the match."

He also informed that Dravid would be kept under observation at a city hospital overnight and his release will depend on a medical assessment. "His condition is stable and he will be kept under observation."

Asked whether Dravid will return to India or stay back, Ayub said, "Nothing has been decided yet. We will take a call on that tomorrow."

Earlier, Mostafa Kamal, the BCB president, who visited the hosptial, said Dravid had sustained "light fractures". "I just met Rahul, he is feeling fine and is having his meal," Kamal told Cricinfo. "My doctors have told me that there are a couple of light fractures, nothing serious. He will be fine."

Kamal was quoted by Bangladesh TV channels as saying Dravid would be returning to India but he sought to clarify that statement. "I meant my doctors have told me he can go back tomorrow if he wants to. It's a decision for Rahul and the Indian board to make. There is nothing to worry about; everything is fine. He will be discharged tomorrow."

The incident occurred in the second over with the new ball, the 82nd of the innings, and with Dravid batting on 111 when he ducked into the bouncer. The ball didn't climb as high as he thought it would and hit his ear guard as he tried to get his head out of the way.

India already have injury worries with Yuvraj Singh suffering a minor hand injury, which kept him away from batting at his normal position today. He was seen padded up when night-watchman Harbhajan Singh was batting.

Ayub said Yuvraj's wrist was "not fine" and an update was pending. "Yuvraj has a sprain in his left wrist and was taken to the hospital for further investigation. A decision on whether he will be able to bat will be taken tomorrow."

Dravid calls for more space between domestic games

Cricinfo staff

January 16, 2010

	Rahul Dravid has backed the concept of neutral curators for Ranji Trophy games © AFP

Rahul Dravid has called for greater space between games in India's domestic season in order to enable players to give their best, and increase the possibility of more outright results. Dravid, who is currently in Bangladesh for the two-Test series, said the frequency of matches and consequently, the lack of breathing space, was a reason for the numerous draws the Ranji Trophy witnessed.

"Since the domestic season is very cramped, the teams don't want to tire their bowlers by trying to go for an outright win," Dravid was quoted as saying by Outlook. "The amount of cricket we play at the domestic level needs to be looked into. It might mean cancelling one or two tournaments, so that there's a proper gap between the Ranji Trophy games.

"Maybe the spacing of the Ranji Trophy games could be a bit better to give the players a bit more rest between the games."

Karnataka would have missed Dravid in the nail-biting final against Mumbai, as they lost by six runs while chasing 338. Dravid had to join the Indian team in Bangladesh for the Test series. He said though the Ranji Trophy was missing national players, they too needed a break, given the hectic schedule. "Some are playing all the year for India, it's not easy. You need a break," he said.

Dravid backed the concept of neutral curators to encourage more outright results in the competition and said it was also beneficial for the long-term development of first-class cricketers. "Some people may play safe because they don't want to lose outright," he said. But local associations must understand that if they want to develop good cricketers, they need their state players to play on good wickets. They might lose some matches, but in the long run they'll benefit.

"I like the concept of neutral curators and the board is giving them a direction. And, to be fair, the quality of the wickets is improving."

The thrilling final was received brilliantly in Mysore where crowds flocked in big numbers for each of the four days. On the final day, given the tense encounter, those who couldn't get tickets were seen sitting on terraces and trees outside the venue. The lack of time, Dravid said, could have been a reason for poor attendances in the previous games.

"It's not that people are not interested," he said. "They still follow the scores religiously; it's just that they don't have the time, which is understandable.

"It'll be a good idea to have AIR [All India Radio] do live radio coverage of the games. They'd be surprised to see how many follow the games, especially their own state teams."

                                                                                                                                                                                               

          ANSWER TO THE ONLY CRITIC MADE TO SIR.DRAVID

• 
  
  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. In Dravid's defence, the media noted at the time that the decision had apparently been made by Ganguly, and Ganguly himself later admitted that it had been a mistake, the wording of the statement indicating that it had not been Dravid's call.
  
  
  

CHILDHOOD PICS OF DRAVID...RARE GLIMPSES

RD I ALWAYS SAY TO EVERYONE THAT I LOVE U MORE THAN MYSELF,I ACTUALLY CRIED WHEN U WERE DROPPED FROM THE TEAM BUT WHEN PPL ASK WHY I LIKE U SO MUCH THERE ARE NO WORDS BCOZ UR GREATNESS,DEDICATION COMMITMENT AND STYLE AND DA PERSON U ARE IS BEYOND ALL WORDS

ITS RAHUL DRAVID'S BIRTHDAY TODAY....WISHING U A VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HOPING THAT U PLAY FOR ATLEAST 10 MORE YEARS....UR DIE HARD FAN..ALOK...U ARE REALLY A GOD!!THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER U HAVE GIVEN TO WORLD CRICKET...NOBODY CAN EVER REPLACE YOU....HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR!!!!

Dravid in World Cups

Dravid was top run scorer in the 7th World Cup(1999), scoring 461 runs. He is the only Indian to score two back to back 100's in World Cup's.He scored 110 vs Kenya and followed it with a masterly 145 vs Sri Lanka in Taunton in a match where he kept wickets later.He was vice captain during 2003 World cup where India reached the final, serving his team in the dual capacity of batsman and wicket keeper to accommodate additional batsman, a move that paid huge dividends for India. Dravid was the captain during 2007 cricket world cup in West Indies, where Indian cricket team had a dismal campaign.

Style

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 26 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 55.11, including 5 double centuries. In one-dayers though he has an average of 39.49, and a strike rate of 71.22. He is one of the few Indians who average more at away matches than at home, averaging over 10 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches. As of 9 August 2006, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 65.28 as against his overall Test average of 55.41, and his average for away ODI stands at 42.03 as against overall ODI average of 39.49. In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 78.72 in Tests and 53.40 in ODIs.

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.^[35] 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). Dravid's batting average of 95.46 in the past year has made him the only Indian to be in the Test team of the year. On 18 March 2006, Dravid played his 100th Test against England in Mumbai.

In 2005, a biography of Rahul Dravid written by Devendra Prabhudesai was published, 'The Nice Guy Who Finished First'.

In the 2005 ICC Awards he was the only Indian to be named to the World one-day XI.

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."^[36]

Timeline

• 1973 - Born 11 January 1973, in Indore
• 1984 - Attended a summer coaching camp at KSCA's Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, where his talents were spotted by former cricketer turned coach Keki Tarapore (There was another Keki Tarapore [Mumbai, deceased] with whom people confuse this gentleman who also passed on.)
• Scores his first century in an unofficial match for his school team St. Joseph's against St. Anthony's.
• Scores a double hundred for the Karnataka schools team which he smashed against Kerala.
• Selected for the under-15 Karnataka team.
• Stops keeping wickets on advice from Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and coach Keki Tarapore.
• 1985 - Gets recognised in Bangalore as a prodigy after becoming the first ever to score a century in the Cottonian Shield inter school tournament (Juniors) for St. Josephs High School against Baldwin Boys' High School, in the final.
• 1991 - Ranji debut against Maharashtra.
• 1996 - Double century in Ranji finals, vs. Tamil Nadu.
• 1996 - Test debut at Lords, England after Sanjay Manjrekar was injured and Navjot Singh Sidhu flew back home after a fracas with captain Azharuddin. Makes 95.
• 1997 - Maiden Test hundred (148), vs. South Africa, third Test, Johannesburg.
• 1997 - First one day hundred (107), vs. Pakistan, Independence Cup, Chennai.
• 1998 - Dropped from One Day squad for the ODI tournament in Bangladesh.
• 1999 - Hundred in both innings (190,103) against New Zealand in Hamilton.
• 1999 - Makes 461 runs, including three 50s and two 100s in World Cup.
• 1999 - Signs up with Kent for the 2000 English county season.
• 2001 - Scores 180, while V. V. S. Laxman makes 281, in a fifth-wicket stand of 376 as India defeat Australia at Eden Gardens, ending 16 Test-winning streak by Australia.
• 2004 - Career best 270 against Pakistan, at Rawalpindi.
• 2005 - Succeeds Sourav Ganguly as Test and ODI captain.
• 2005 - The Nice Guy Who Finished First by Devendra Prabhudesai, released by coach Greg Chappell.
• 2006 - Scores first century as captain, at Lahore, vs. Pakistan.
• 2006 - Contributed in a remarkable 410 runs partnership with Sehwag at Multan.
• 2006 - Leads India to snatch their first ever test victory on South African Soil.
• 2007 - Leads India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, held in West Indies.
• 2007 - After India's tour of England, resigns from Indian captaincy.
• 2007 - Dropped from the Indian ODI Squad after poor series against Australia.
• 2008 - Reached the landmark of 10000 Test runs, in the first Test of the series against South Africa in Chennai on 29 March
• 2009 - Reached the catching record for a fielder in test cricket with 182 catches, in the third test against New Zealand in Wellington on 6 April.

rahul dravid -THE WALL

Rahul Sharad Dravid (Kannada: ರಾಹುಲ್ ಶರದ್ ದ್ರಾವಿಡ, Marathi: राहुल शरद द्रविड) pronunciation (help·info) (born 11 January 1973) is one of the most experienced cricketers in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honored as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2000. 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.

Known as the Wall due to his ability to bat for long durations, Dravid holds multiple world cricketing records. He is the second Indian batsman, after Sachin Tendulkar, and the fifth international player to have scored more than 11,000 runs in Test cricket. On 14 February 2007, he became the sixth player in the history of world cricket and the third Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket. He is the first and the only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations. With more than 185 catches, Dravid currently holds the world record for the highest number of catches in Test cricket. has also been involved in more than 80 century partnerships with 18 different partners — a world record.