New Delhi, Mar 8: One of India and world's greatest Test batsman Rahul Dravid is likely to announce his retirement from Test cricket on Friday. He has already retired from one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
Dravid is set to hold a press conference with BCCI chief N Srinivasan at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Friday where he is expected to announce his retirement.
Speculations have been on about Dravid's future since he managed just 194 runs at an average of 24.25 in India's 0-4 drubbing in Australia, the team's second successive whitewash on foreign shores after an identical result in England.
However, Dravid had then denied having any retirement plans.
"I am definitely nearer the end than the beginning, there is no doubt about that. I haven't made any decision and there is no need to make any decisions now, we're not playing another Test match for seven to eight months so we'll see how it pans out," Dravid had said after the Test series.
"At my stage in my career it's always about taking it a series at a time and not looking too far ahead, so we'll see what happens," Dravid was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
Dravid has already retired from one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
The elegant right hander, nicknamed 'The Wall' for his dour defence, is the second highest run getter in Test history with 13,288 runs, behind only Sachin Tendulkar who has 15,470 runs. He has 36 Test centuries with a highest score of 270 and an average of 52.31.
Dravid has also taken more catches (210) than anyone else in Test history in the 164 Test matches he has played since he made his debut against England at Lord's in 1996. He captained India from December 2005 to August 2007.
Since his debut in England, Dravid went on to cement his place in the middle order and along with Tendulkar and Laxman was a key member of India's famed middle order.
Dravid occupied the vital number three position in the line-up and played some of his finest knocks for the country in that position.
Armed with an orthodox technique, he became the pivot of the Indian team which not only won matches but also started winning overseas.
At Adelaide in 2003, when India won a Test in Australia for the first time in a generation, he batted 835 minutes over two innings. A few months later, he was at the crease for more than 12 hours for his knock of 270 that clinched India's first series win in Pakistan.
He was initially found not suited for one-day cricket but he reoriented his game over the years to become an adept middle-order finisher in the shorter version. He scored 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs at an average of 39.16. He hit 12 centuries and as many as 53 fifties in ODIs.
Dravid also added value to the team by keeping wickets in the ODIs which gave the team management more options to pick either an additional batsman or a bowler.
His 386-run partnership with Laxman at the Eden Gardens against Australia is part of cricketing folklore as India went on to win the match from a lost position. Many regard this to be one of the greatest Test matches of all time.
A two-year stint as captain from 2005 to 2007, following Sourav Ganguly's axing, was less successful, though he did lead the side to series victories in England and the West Indies for the first time in a generation
