Rahul Dravid is popularly known as The Wall, a man who had an impenetrable defence and dogged determination. No doubt he was a fantastic batsman and an Indian great, but he had many chinks in his armour which makes me doubt the sobriquet.
Dravid has been one of the mainstays of the Indian batting lineup, bailed us out from some tough situations and played some matchwinning innings overseas. He was neither the best against the good attacks, nor a bankable man in tough ardous overseas conditions but somehow the perception that Dravid is a better test batsman than Sachin is fixed in the minds of most people. Dravid had a long career from 1996 to 2012 and throught his career, the toughest places to bat were South Africa, Australia, England and Sri Lanka( Excluded New Zealand because they never had a world class attack barring 2002).
Rahul Dravid was highly successful in England, scoring 1376 runs at an average of 68.80 over 4 tours. But he fared poorly in Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. He did have success in 2003-04 tour in the absence of Mcgrath and Warne but failed badly in the other 3 tours.
Dravid in Toughest Condition: -
SA (624 runs in 11 matches at 29.71)
AUS(1166 runs in 16 matches at 41.64)
SL(662 runs in 12 matches at 33.71)
The numbers are atrocious in South Africa and Sri Lanka and decent in Sri Lanka. If we take away the 2003-04 series in Australia, he scored 547 runs at 23.78.
This is how Dravid's contemporaries fared in South Africa during 1996-2012.
Tendulkar(959 runs at 50.47 in 11 matches)
Laxman(566 runs at 40.42 in 10 matches)
Ganguly(506 runs at 36.14 in 8 matches)
Dravid(624 runs at 29.71 in 11 matches)
Sehwag(382 runs at 25.46 in 8 matches)
The above list clearly shows how poor Dravid was in SA. Even Ganguly, with all his problems against genuine pace bowling was ahead. (Tendulkar though averages 46.44 overall).
Indian batsman in Sri Lanka(1996-2012)
Sehwag(692 runs at 69.2 in 6 matches)
Tendulkar(952 runs at 63.46 in 9 matches)
Laxman(530 runs at 48.18 in 7 matches)
Ganguly(588 runs at 36.75 in 9 matches)
Dravid(662 runs at 33.1 in 12 matches)
Here also, he ends up at the bottom among the Fav 5.
Indian batsman in Australia (1996-2012)
Tendulkar(1441 runs at 55.42 in 15 matches)
Sehwag(1031 runs at 46.86 in 11 matches)
Laxman(1236 runs at 44.14 in 15 matches)
Dravid(1166 runs at 41.64 in 16 matches)
Ganguly(696 runs at 34.8 in 11 matches)
Stats show that he was decent in Australia but he filled his boots in the 2003-04 series.
His performance in the above 3 countries clearly show that he was not the impenetrable wall as he is often made out to be.
If we combine the stats in these 3 countries, we find that Dravid had 2426 runs at 36.2 in 38 matches whereas Tendulkar leads the way with 3314 runs at 57.13 in 34 matches. Clearly, Tendulkar was head and shoulders above Dravid while Dravid failed against quality attacks. He also had a poor strike rate and found it difficult to score against these relentless attacks.
Dravid's performance against South Africa and Australia is also far from impressive(Excluded Lanka because they are poor travellers while Aus and Sa were the best visitors in India).
This is how Indian batsman fared against Aus and Sa at home: -
Azharuddin(848 runs at 70.66 in 8 matches)
Sehwag(1687 runs at 56.23 in 16 matches)
Sachin(2209 runs at 52.29 in 25 matches)
Laxman(1608 runs at 48.72 in 23 matches)
Dhoni(630 runs at 45.00 in 11 matches)
Gambhir(659 runs at 41.18 in 9 matches)
Dravid(1628 runs at 37 in 27 matches)
Ganguly(1148 runs at 33.76 in 22 matches)
Yet again, Dravid is at the bottom of the list. His average and SR speaks about his struggles against this great sides.
If we combine Aus and Sa both home and away, we find that Sachin has 4571 runs at 53.77 in 50 matches while Dravid has 3369 runs at 37.85 in 52 matches.
It is quite obvious by now that Tendulkar and Laxman maintaind there averges against the good sides and gave consistent performances while Dravid struggled both home and away though he did play some legendry innings. He simply lacked the consistency.
Most people are amazed by Dravid's strsight batted defence and media's image of the wall. As a result, they stereotype straight batted defence with success against great bowlers in hostile conditon(similar to pujara). Against great attacks in hostile conditions, a full range of strokes is required and Dravid was a limited batsman in terms of strokemaking. The likes of Tendulkar, Laxman and Sehwag were free flowing batsman and could get on top of this attacks. Dravid, on the contrary, depended on biding his time against the great bowlers to score off the lesser ones. Against teams with not so great attacks(Eng,Nz,Wi) it bore fruit. He would wait for the lesser bowlers to come on and capitalise on them. Against Australia and South Africa, and against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, this tactics failed. There was no such opportunity against lesser bowlers.
Hence, I can safely conclude that Dravid was a mediocre batsman against great attacks, and a great batsman against mediocre attacks. And Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman to come out of India.
Dravid has been one of the mainstays of the Indian batting lineup, bailed us out from some tough situations and played some matchwinning innings overseas. He was neither the best against the good attacks, nor a bankable man in tough ardous overseas conditions but somehow the perception that Dravid is a better test batsman than Sachin is fixed in the minds of most people. Dravid had a long career from 1996 to 2012 and throught his career, the toughest places to bat were South Africa, Australia, England and Sri Lanka( Excluded New Zealand because they never had a world class attack barring 2002).
Rahul Dravid was highly successful in England, scoring 1376 runs at an average of 68.80 over 4 tours. But he fared poorly in Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. He did have success in 2003-04 tour in the absence of Mcgrath and Warne but failed badly in the other 3 tours.
Dravid in Toughest Condition: -
SA (624 runs in 11 matches at 29.71)
AUS(1166 runs in 16 matches at 41.64)
SL(662 runs in 12 matches at 33.71)
The numbers are atrocious in South Africa and Sri Lanka and decent in Sri Lanka. If we take away the 2003-04 series in Australia, he scored 547 runs at 23.78.
This is how Dravid's contemporaries fared in South Africa during 1996-2012.
Tendulkar(959 runs at 50.47 in 11 matches)
Laxman(566 runs at 40.42 in 10 matches)
Ganguly(506 runs at 36.14 in 8 matches)
Dravid(624 runs at 29.71 in 11 matches)
Sehwag(382 runs at 25.46 in 8 matches)
The above list clearly shows how poor Dravid was in SA. Even Ganguly, with all his problems against genuine pace bowling was ahead. (Tendulkar though averages 46.44 overall).
Indian batsman in Sri Lanka(1996-2012)
Sehwag(692 runs at 69.2 in 6 matches)
Tendulkar(952 runs at 63.46 in 9 matches)
Laxman(530 runs at 48.18 in 7 matches)
Ganguly(588 runs at 36.75 in 9 matches)
Dravid(662 runs at 33.1 in 12 matches)
Here also, he ends up at the bottom among the Fav 5.
Indian batsman in Australia (1996-2012)
Tendulkar(1441 runs at 55.42 in 15 matches)
Sehwag(1031 runs at 46.86 in 11 matches)
Laxman(1236 runs at 44.14 in 15 matches)
Dravid(1166 runs at 41.64 in 16 matches)
Ganguly(696 runs at 34.8 in 11 matches)
Stats show that he was decent in Australia but he filled his boots in the 2003-04 series.
His performance in the above 3 countries clearly show that he was not the impenetrable wall as he is often made out to be.
If we combine the stats in these 3 countries, we find that Dravid had 2426 runs at 36.2 in 38 matches whereas Tendulkar leads the way with 3314 runs at 57.13 in 34 matches. Clearly, Tendulkar was head and shoulders above Dravid while Dravid failed against quality attacks. He also had a poor strike rate and found it difficult to score against these relentless attacks.
Dravid's performance against South Africa and Australia is also far from impressive(Excluded Lanka because they are poor travellers while Aus and Sa were the best visitors in India).
This is how Indian batsman fared against Aus and Sa at home: -
Azharuddin(848 runs at 70.66 in 8 matches)
Sehwag(1687 runs at 56.23 in 16 matches)
Sachin(2209 runs at 52.29 in 25 matches)
Laxman(1608 runs at 48.72 in 23 matches)
Dhoni(630 runs at 45.00 in 11 matches)
Gambhir(659 runs at 41.18 in 9 matches)
Dravid(1628 runs at 37 in 27 matches)
Ganguly(1148 runs at 33.76 in 22 matches)
Yet again, Dravid is at the bottom of the list. His average and SR speaks about his struggles against this great sides.
If we combine Aus and Sa both home and away, we find that Sachin has 4571 runs at 53.77 in 50 matches while Dravid has 3369 runs at 37.85 in 52 matches.
It is quite obvious by now that Tendulkar and Laxman maintaind there averges against the good sides and gave consistent performances while Dravid struggled both home and away though he did play some legendry innings. He simply lacked the consistency.
Most people are amazed by Dravid's strsight batted defence and media's image of the wall. As a result, they stereotype straight batted defence with success against great bowlers in hostile conditon(similar to pujara). Against great attacks in hostile conditions, a full range of strokes is required and Dravid was a limited batsman in terms of strokemaking. The likes of Tendulkar, Laxman and Sehwag were free flowing batsman and could get on top of this attacks. Dravid, on the contrary, depended on biding his time against the great bowlers to score off the lesser ones. Against teams with not so great attacks(Eng,Nz,Wi) it bore fruit. He would wait for the lesser bowlers to come on and capitalise on them. Against Australia and South Africa, and against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, this tactics failed. There was no such opportunity against lesser bowlers.
Hence, I can safely conclude that Dravid was a mediocre batsman against great attacks, and a great batsman against mediocre attacks. And Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman to come out of India.
