Rahul Dravid, born in a Marathi family on 11th January 1973 grew up in Bangalore and has represented the Karnataka Cricket team in under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels and gained recognition at the early stage of his game for his batting techniques. He started playing cricket at the age of 12 years and is still a part of the team as its head coach. He has served as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team and the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He has made some spectacular recognitions and records while being a part of the Indian Cricket team. For his work, he was also called by various nicknames such as – The Wall, The Great Wall, Jammy and Mr Dependable.
He is not just known for his game but also for his personality and the behaviour that he portrays in the public. One of such incidents is when Bangalore University on the account of its 52nd Annual Convocation in 2017 offered a Doctorate to Rahul Dravid as approved by the Karnataka Governor and the Bangalore University Chancellor – Vajubhai R Vala. It was another achievement that would have been added to the list in the name of Rahul Dravid but surprisingly he declined the Doctorate very politely with his own well explained reasons.
The Chancellor in his official statement said that “Sri Rahul Dravid while thanking Bangalore University for recognising him for the honorary degree, has conveyed that he would try to earn a doctorate degree by accomplishing some form of academic research in the field of sports rather than receiving an honorary degree”.
This kind of humbleness and down to earth behaviour is very rare in this era as people look for easy recognition and fame. He has set up a standard for people who still desire to work hard to earn fame and recognition, he proved it time and again. Rahul also gave further explanations for declining the honorary saying that his mother Pushpa Dravid did her PhD and earned the doctorate at the age of 55 and his wife Vijetha Pendharkar who studied for 7 years of medicine to earn her degree in surgery. He said that his thought process towards it is that if he wants something in life, he must earn it. The doctorate that he will be receiving must not bring a feeling to the other person that he is trying to belittle.
He wants to work hard, even more, to become capable of receiving that award. He also mentioned that it is not the first time that people have asked him to become a doctor, it is just that it has happened privately and he has declined it politely every time, but this time it has come out in public and this time too he declined it with valid reasons in a polite manner.
The list of awards that he has been facilitated are:
NATIONAL HONOURS –
- 1998 – Arjun Award – recipient for achievement in cricket
- 2004 – Padma Shri – India’s fourth-highest civilian award
- 2013 – Padma Bhushan – India’s third highest civilian award
OTHER HONOURS –
- 1999 – CEAT International Cricket of the World Cup
- 2000 – Dravid was one of the five cricketers selected as Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- 2004 – ICC Cricketer of the Year – The highest award in the ICC listings
- 2004 – ICC test player of the year, ICC cricketer of the year.
- 2004 – MTV Youth Icon of the year
- 2006 – Captain of the ICC’s test team
- 2011 – NDTV Indian of the Year’s Lifetime Achievement Award with Dev Anand
- 2012 – Don Bradman Award with Glenn McGrath
- 2015 – Wisden India’s Highest-Impact Test Batsman
- 2018 – ICC Hall of Fame
Rahul Dravid is an exceptional and extraordinary person.
