Rahul Dravid: The Wall that stood tall in all conditions

England v India: 1st npower Test - Day Three

Ask him to walk on water today, and he will say, "OK". Ask him to jump off a cliff, in the form he is in, he will say, "Here is the parachute, I don't need it".

These were the words of Harsha Bhogle on air when Rahul Dravid was smashing the English left-arm spinner Samit Patel in his lone T20I. India were whitewashed in the Test series against England in 2011 but there was a lone hero in the Indian setup - Rahul Sharad Dravid. He batted, batted and batted right through the series, scoring runs at will against the likes of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad when all the other Indians found the going difficult. This was just one of the many rescue operations that were headed by the Indian legend.

The grand debut

Dravid was knocking on the doors of the Indian team with some notable performances in the domestic circuit. He was eventually picked for the Indian Test team that toured England in 1996.

Sanjay Manjrekar failed a fitness test on the morning of the second Test match at Lord's on 20th June 1996 and Dravid was picked as a replacement, 10 minutes before the toss.

He walked in at number 7 after the dismissal of Ajay Jadeja, to accompany his fellow debutant, Sourav Ganguly, and batted for six long hours to score 95 glorious runs that included six fours. He was eventually dismissed caught behind off Lewis.

Dravid did not wait for the umpire's decision when he edged one to the keeper, which spoke a lot about his character.

Though his partnerships with Ganguly, Srinath and Kumble provided the crucial first innings lead, the match ended in a draw.