Dravid was born on January 11, 1973, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His father, Sharad Dravid, worked for a company that produces jams, his mother, Pushpa, was a professor of architecture at the Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in Bangalore (now Bengaluru).
He was born into a Marathi-speaking Brahmin family. His family later moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, where he was raised.
He started playing cricket at the age of 12 and represented Karnataka at the under-15, the under-17, and the under-19 levels.
Former cricketer Keki Tarapore first noticed Dravid’s talent while coaching at a summer camp in the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
He scored a century for his school team. He also played as a wicketkeeper.
He made his “Ranji Trophy” debut in February 1991 while still attending college.
Playing alongside Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath against Maharashtra in Pune, he scored 82 runs in the match, which ended in a draw. He followed it up with a century against Bengal and three successive centuries after.
He made his international debut on April 3, 1996, in an “ODI” against Sri Lanka in the “Singer Cup” held in Singapore immediately after the “1996 World Cup,” replacing Vinod Kambli.
He wasn’t particularly successful with the bat, scoring only three runs before being dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka | Bowler), but took two catches in the match. He followed it up with another failure in the next game, scoring only four runs before being run out against Pakistan.
India toured South Africa for a three-match Test series.
In the first Test, Dravid scored an unbeaten 27 as India struggled to 66, chasing 395. Promoted to No. 3 in the second Test, he nearly won the third Test with a maiden hundred, scoring 148 and 81 before the match ended in a draw due to weather and Cullinan’s (South Africa | Top Order Batter) century.
Dravid’s performance in this Test earned him his first “Man of the Match” award in Test cricket. He top-scored for India in the series with 277 runs at an average of 55.40.
He made his “World Cup” debut against South Africa at Hove, scoring a half-century. He scored only 13 runs in the next game against Zimbabwe.
In a crucial “World Cup” match against Kenya, Dravid and Tendulkar’s partnership of 237 runs set a World Cup record, with Dravid scoring his maiden World Cup hundred, securing a 94-run victory for India.
Dravid hit the peak of his career in 2002. He was the second-highest scorer overall and top scorer for India across formats, scoring 8,914 runs from 174 matches at an average of 54.02, including 19 hundreds.
In the West Indies tour of 2002, he showcased his resilience by scoring a hundred despite a swollen jaw in the First Test, contributed with fifty and four catches in India’s first Test victory in the West Indies since 1975–76, and took his only Test wicket.
He also served as India’s designated keeper in the ODI series.
Dravid arrived in South Africa with the Indian squad to participate in the “2003 Cricket World Cup” in the capacity of first-choice keeper-batsman as part of their seven batsmen-four bowlers’ strategy, an experiment that had brought success to the team during the prior year.
This idea was that Dravid’s wicketkeeping role allowed India to field an extra batsman, aiding their “World Cup” campaign. He contributed 318 runs at an average of 63.60 and 16 dismissals, including key performances against England, Pakistan, and New Zealand.
Rahul Dravid was dropped from the ODI team in 2009 but was selected again for an ODI series in England in 2011, surprising even Dravid himself since, although he had not officially retired from ODI cricket, he had not expected to be recalled.
After being selected, he announced that he would retire from ODI cricket after the series. He played his last ODI innings against England at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on September 16, 2011, scoring 69 runs from 79 balls before being bowled by Graeme Swann (England | Bowler). His last limited-overs international match was his debut “T20I” match; he announced his retirement before playing his first T20I match.
Dravid announced his retirement from “Test” and domestic cricket on March 9, 2012, after the 2011–12 tour of Australia, but he said that he would captain the “Rajasthan Royals” (RR) in the “2012 Indian Premier League.”
He was the second-highest run scorer and had taken the highest number of catches in “Test” cricket at the time of his retirement.
In July 2019, following his four-year stint as coach of the junior teams, Dravid was appointed Head of Cricket at the “National Cricket Academy” (NCA). He was in charge of overseeing all cricket-related activities at the NCA and was involved in mentoring, coaching, training, and motivating players, coaches, and support staff at the NCA.