Rahul Dravid Birthday Special: The Wall In Numbers - A Statistical Tribute To Former India Captain

Rahul Dravid’s exploits are too many and he is a cricket statistician’s delight. Here are a few of his Test records: 

- Dravid made his Test debut against England at Lord’s in June 1996 and made 95. In the same match, another debutant Sourav Ganguly scored a hundred.

- Dravid has scored five double hundreds – 200 not out against Zimbabwe at Delhi in November 2000, 217 against England at The Oval in September 2002, 222 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in October 2003, 233 against Australia at Adelaide in December 2003 and 270 against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in April 2004. His five double hundreds are in the progressive order of runs scored which makes him the only batsman to perform such a feat in the annals of Test cricket. 

- Dravid has scored a fifty and double hundreds on three occasions which is furnished below. He is the only batsman to perform such a feat on three occasions: 

- Dravid has scored a hundred in each innings of a Test match on two occasions – 190 and 103 not out vs New Zealand at Hamilton in January 1999 and 110 and 135 vs Pakistan at Kolkota in March 2005. He is the second Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar to perform such a feat on two or more occasions. Gavaskar has achieved this feat on three occasions. 

- Dravid is the first batsman in Test cricket to aggregate 10000 plus runs while batting at number three. Dravid has an aggregate of 10524 runs to his credit. Later on, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka emulated him to become the second batsman to score 10000 plus runs while batting at number three. Sangakkara has an aggregate of 11679 runs. 

- He has scored 50 half-centuries while batting at number three and was the first batsman to score 50 fifties while batting at number three in Test cricket. Later on, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka emulated him to become the second batsman to score 50 fifties while batting at number three.

- Dravid is one of the three batsmen who have scored 75-plus fifties while batting at number three in Test cricket. Others are – Kumar Sangakkara {87} and Ricky Ponting {75}.

- Dravid has scored ten nineties in Test and shares the record for most nineties with Sachin Tendulkar of India and Steve Waugh of Australia.

- Dravid has scored 5031 runs in India’s 56 winning Tests. He is one of the twelve batsmen in Test cricket to score 5000 plus runs in a team’s winning cause. He is the second Indian batsman to perform such a feat after Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 5946 runs. 

- Dravid is the third Indian batsman to aggregate 5000 plus runs on home soil. He has an aggregate of 5598 runs. The other two are – Sachin Tendulkar {7216} and Sunil Gavaskar {5067}. 

- Dravid is one of the two batsmen in Test cricket to score 7500 plus runs in away matches. He has an aggregate of 7690 runs. Sachin Tendulkar with 8705 runs is the other batsman.

- Dravid has scored 36 half-centuries in away matches and shares the record for most fifties in away matches with Sachin Tendulkar. He is one of the two batsmen who have scored fifty-plus fifties in away matches. He has scored 57 fifties.  Tendulkar is the other batsman with 65 fifties.

- Dravid is one of the two batsmen who have scored 21 or more hundreds in away Test matches. He has scored 21 hundreds; Sachin Tendulkar with 29 hundreds is the other batsman to score 20 plus hundreds.

- Dravid is one among the three Indian batsmen who have scored three double hundreds in away Test matches. Others are – Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

- Dravid is one among the 16 batsmen in Test cricket to score 15 or more hundreds on home soil. He has scored 15 hundreds on home soil. He is also the third Indian batsmen to perform such a feat, others are – Sachin Tendulkar {22} and Sunil Gavaskar {16}.

- Dravid is one of the three batsmen who have been dismissed for a double nelson – 222 – in a Test innings. He scored 222 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in Oct 2003. Others are – Gundappa Viswanath of India vs England at Chennai in January 1982 and Nathan Astle of New Zealand vs England at Christchurch in March 2002. 

- Dravid is the only fielder to pouch 200 plus catches in Test cricket. He has taken 210 catches. He has pouched 112 catches in away matches and remains the only fielder to take 100 plus catches in away matches. 

- Dravid is the only fielder in Test cricket to take 50 plus catches of two bowlers – Anil Kumble {55} and Harbhajan Singh {51}.

- Dravid is one of the five batsmen who have scored 60 plus half-centuries in Test cricket. He has scored 63 half-centuries. Others are – Sachin Tendulkar {68}, Shivnarine Chanderpaul {66}, Allan Border {63} and Ricky Ponting {62}. Thus he shares the third place with Border for most half-centuries by a batsman – both of them scoring 63 fifties. 

- Dravid stands fourth in the list of batsmen who have scored most fifties in Test cricket. The other three batsmen are – Sachin Tendulkar {116}, Jacques Kallis {103} and Ricky Ponting {103}. Dravid has scored  99 fifties.

-  Dravid shares the record for most partnership runs with Sachin Tendulkar in Tests. Both of them have shared 6920 partnership runs in 143 innings. They share 20 three-figure partnerships which is a record in itself for the most number of century stands in Test cricket. 

- Dravid has partnered with Sachin Tendulkar on 143 occasions which is next to 148 occasions partnered by Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge.

- Dravid and Tendulkar shared 29 half-century partnerships which is a record for most half-century stands between two batsmen in Test cricket.  Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer shared 28 half-century stands.

- Dravid and Tendulkar through their 29 half-century partnerships have added 2137 runs. They are the only pair to add 2000 plus runs through half-century stands in Test cricket. 

- Dravid has partnered 49 fifty plus runs partnerships with Tendulkar which is also a record for most fifty-plus runs partnerships in Test cricket. 

- Dravid has been one of the partners in a three-figure partnership on 88 occasions and shares the record for most three-figure stands in Tests. 

- Dravid is one of the four Indian batsmen who have scored four hundreds in consecutive Tests. His feat read thus – 13 and 115 vs England at Nottingham in August 2002; 148 vs England at Leeds in August 2002; 217 vs England at The Oval in September 2002 and 100* vs West Indies at Mumbai in October 2002. Other Indian batsmen to perform such a feat are – Gautam Gautham {05}, Sunil Gavaskar {04} and Sachin Tendulkar {04}. His career summary read thus - 

- Dravid is one of the few batsmen who have scored a hundred against every opposition he played against. 

- Dravid and Virender Sehwag added 410 runs against Pakistan for the first wicket at Lahore in January 2006. This stand is one of the three partnerships of 400 plus runs for the first wicket as of date. The other two stands are – 415 runs between Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie of South Africa against Bangladesh at Chittagong in February 2008 and 413 runs between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy of India against New Zealand at Chennai in January 1956. 

- In India’s innings against South Africa at Chennai in March 08, for the first wicket there was a 213 runs partnership between Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag. For the second wicket,  there was another 200 plus run partnership – 268 runs stand between Sehwag and Dravid. For the first time in Test cricket, 200 plus runs for the first two wickets were registered in the same Test innings. 

- This feat was repeated again by Indian batsmen at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai against Sri Lanka in the third Test of 2009-10 series. Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag added 221 runs for the first wicket which was followed by 237 runs stand for the second wicket between Sehwag and Dravid for the second wicket.

- Dravid became the first cricketer to play his 100th Test while batting at number three on home ground. His 100th Test was against Australia at Bangalore in 2008. 

- Dravid had partnered 4000 plus runs with two batsmen. Tendulkar is the other Indian batsman to achieve such a feat. The performances of these two batsmen are furnished below: 

- Dravid holds the record for most partnership runs for the third wicket with Sachin Tendulkar in Test cricket. They have added 5826 runs from 123 innings. They remain the only pair to add 5000 plus runs for the third wicket. 

- Dravid and Tendulkar have shared 18 three-figure stands which is also a record for the most number of century stands for the third wicket. They also shared 23 half-century partnerships for the third which is a record for the most half-century stands for the third wicket. They shared 41 fifty-plus runs stands for the third wicket which is also a record for the most number of century stands for the third wicket. 

- Dravid figures in four partnerships of 300-plus runs for various wickets is a record for India. The following table furnishes four occasions: 

- Dravid has faced most balls than any other batsman in aggregating 13288 runs. He is the only batsman to have faced 30000 deliveries - 31258 to be precise. 

- Dravid and VVS Laxman have forged two partnerships of 300-plus runs – both against Australia – 376 runs for the fifth wicket at Kolkata in March 2001 and 303 runs for the fifth wicket at Adelaide in December 2003. 

- They remain the only pair in Test cricket to have put on 300 plus runs for the same wicket and against the same opposition on two occasions – once at home and another on away soil. 

- Dravid is one of the six batsmen in the annals of Test cricket to have partnered 300-plus run partnerships on four or more occasions. Others are – Don Bradman {05}, Herschelle {04}, Graeme Smith {04}, Ricky Ponting {04} and Mahela Jayawardene {04}. 

- Dravid holds the record for most occasions of bowled dismissals in Test cricket. He has been bowled on 55 occasions. Dravid {55}, Sachin Tendulkar {54} and Allan Border {53} are the only three batsmen who have been dismissed bowled on 50-plus occasions in Test cricket.

- Dravid's partnership of 410 runs with Virender Sehwag for the first wicket against Pakistan at Karachi in January 2006 is one of the fourteen partnerships of 400 plus runs in Test cricket and second by India. The other partnership is - 413 runs between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy of India against New Zealand at Chennai {Nehru Stadium} in Jan 1956. 

- Dravid has partnered 214 fifty-plus runs partnerships for various wickets with 33 partners.  He is the only batsman in Test cricket to partner 200-plus fifty-plus partnerships.

- Dravid earned the distinction of becoming the fifth fieldsman in Test cricket to pouch 13 catches in series. His feat provides the sixth such occasion. He achieved the distinction against Australia in the 2004-05 Test series. What is interesting is that Dravid’s 13 catches came in four Tests while the other five who are in this elite list have done in five or more Tests. 

 - Dravid's 13 catches represent the most catches held in a series against Australia by a fielder from any country. The previous best tally of catches in a series against Australia was 12. Five fielders had jointly held this record. They are Len Braund of England in 1901-02, Wally Hammond of England in 1934, Garfield Sobers of the West Indies in 1960-61, Tony Greig of England in 1974-75 and Ian Botham of England in 1981. 

- Dravid became the fourth Indian to pouch ten or more catches in a Test series. It is the fifth such occasion by an Indian.  His effort is the best by an Indian in a Test series. The previous best was by Eknath Solkar who had taken 12 catches in the 1972-73 series against England. 

- Dravid’s effort of 13 catches in four Tests makes him the third fielder to pouch ten or more catches in four Tests. Others are – Eknath Solkar – 10 catches against Australia in 1969-60 and Ajit Wadekar – 10 catches against New Zealand in 1993-94. 

- Dravid's 88 three-figure partnerships with various partners is a world record for most three-figure stands.

- Dravid has partnered 88 three-figure stands which is a world record for most three-figure partnerships by a batsman in Test cricket. All such partnerships are tabulated below: 

- Further analysis into these partnerships will yield the following interesting partnerships. The following are the 16 occasions when Dravid has partnered two or more three-figure partnerships in an innings or in a match: