Happy Birthday Rahul Dravid: The Wall of Indian Cricket turns 45

Lucknow: Rahul Dravid is the name which even today first strikes in our minds whenever the Indian Cricket team seems to be in situation of losing a match. Such is the aura created by the legendary batsman who is celebrating his 45^th birthday on Thursday.

Fondly known as 'The Wall', the Indore-born batsman played many astonishing knocks during his decorated 16-year-long career.

With the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, Dravid was a permanent fixture in the Indian middle-order for years. During the 2000s, the 'fab four' of Indian Cricket used to be one of the best middle-orders in the world, especially in Tests.

Born on January 11, 1973, Dravid is currently serving the Indian team as the Overseas Batting Consultant and Head Coach of India Under-19 and India 'A' teams.

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During his illustrated career in Test Cricket, Rahul Dravid represented the country in 164 Tests and scored 13,288 runs at a staggering average of 52.31. He scored 36 hundreds and 63 half-centuries with a highest score of 270 runs.

In his 286 Test innings, he never got out for a 'Golden Duck' (getting dismissed on the first ball faced in an inning).

He also appeared in 344 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for India and scored 10,889 runs at a healthy average of 39.16. He also has 12 hundreds and 83 half-centuries in the shorter format of the game with 153 being his highest score.

He, however, could never establish an image of being a quick scorer of runs, but was widely regarded as the safest pair of hands in Indian slip cordon. He took 210 catches in Tests while 196 catches in ODI Cricket.

Apart from being one of the greatest cricketers in history, Rahul Dravid is also very much loved for his humble behavior despite being a superstar of Indian Cricket for so long.

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He stunned everyone when denied the opportunity to coach the Indian national side to shape the career and technique of the young talents coming from all across the country in the Under-19 and India 'A' teams.

It would not be wrong to say that he is the first person to be credited for the amazingly talented 'bench-strength' of current Indian team which has most recently seen greatly confident and technically correct batsmen and some quick yet controlled bowlers making their debut for the Indian team.

Many of the past and current team India members took to Twitter to wish Rahul Dravid on his 45^th birth anniversary:

https://twitter.com/harbhajan_singh/status/951327314318675968

https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/951358405603504128

https://twitter.com/YUVSTRONG12/status/951455831446335488

https://twitter.com/Jaspritbumrah93/status/951469887511322626

https://twitter.com/virendersehwag/status/951385368334499840

https://twitter.com/ajinkyarahane88/status/951346471135268864

https://twitter.com/RpSingh99/status/951331365890482177

https://twitter.com/VVSLaxman281/status/951331050294300672

https://twitter.com/ImRaina/status/951308855631212544

https://twitter.com/RaviShastriOfc/status/951330605211553792

https://twitter.com/ImRo45/status/951354029141118976

https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/951278620651110400

https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/951360320966021120

https://twitter.com/ICC/status/951302648191332352