Rahul Dravid To Retire From International Cricket

Iconic Indian test cricketer Rahul Dravid is expected to formally announce his retirement from international cricket at a press conference on Friday in Bangalore.

The 39-year-old batsman enjoyed a brilliant career, having scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests and 36 centuries.

Nicknamed “The Wall” Dravid also holds the world record with 210 outfield Test catches.

Last September, he retired from one-day cricket, scoring 10,889 runs in 344 internationals.

However, Dravid is expected to keep playing in the Indian Premier League Twenty/20 tournament.

Dravid has long been compared with his fellow superstars Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

He and Tendulkar are the only two international players to exceed 13,000 runs in Test cricket.

Most cricket fans would probably say Tendulkar was the greater player.

However, in an editorial in the Daily Telegraph newspaper of the UK, columnist Alan Tyers suggested that Dravid was more popular -- at least with British fans, due to his modesty and machine-like efficiency.

His fame and popularity were so great that he was the first non-Australian cricketer to make an address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra (in honor of legendary Aussie cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, who is widely considered the greatest batsman in history).

Born in Indore and raised in Bangalore, Dravid had been a member of the Indian national cricket team since 1996 and served at its captain from late 2005 to the end of 2007.