Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid was part of India's 'Big Four' alongwith Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Contemporaries and commentators have constantly rated him as the best Test batsman of his generation and one of the greatest of all time. Dravid was one of the most important elements of an Indian batting line up that did away with the tag of being easy beats away from home. His ability to anchor the innings for ridiculously long periods earned him the nickname 'The Wall.' He has more than 10,000 ODI runs to his name but it is Test matches that Dravid was the most effective. Never a wild slogger, Dravid was more of a tactical destroyer than a physical one. He would wear out even the fiercest of pace attacks with his dogged defence while giving freedom to the man at the other end and end up being cited as the main reason for their failure to beat India by the opposition captain. His highest Test total of 270 was accumulated over 12 hours at Rawalpindi and gave India their first series win at Pakistan. He had a dream Test debut but it was one that was overshadowed by the other debutant, Sourav Ganguly. Dravid did experience a slight slump but came out of it in his own calm way by playing one of the most famous supporting acts of all time with Laxman as India recorded a famous victory at Eden Gardens against Australia in 2001. Dravid became the captain and led India to series victories at England and West Indies. But this was followed by the disastrous 2007 World Cup after which he gave up the post and almost lost his place in the team. In his penultiamate Test series, he was the only bright spot for an otherwise down and out Indian team in England. he hung up his boots in the following series at Australia, thus bringing the curtains down on what might be the last classic Test career.