India's legendary batter Rahul Dravid was in the spotlight gaining huge applause and praises as he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the CEAT Cricket Awards for his worthy contributions to Indian cricket. Dravid called it a day to his coaching career for the Indian men's cricket team after the side beat South Africa to lift the T20 World Cup on June 29. The 51-year-old played a key role in helping India end their 11-year trophy drought through key tactics and building a positive rapport in the dressing room. He was awarded the Lifetime Award for his services as a player and recently as a coach. The 2024 World T20 celebrations were a testimony of what Dravid felt and how this win which was a full circle for him meant to him and his career.
Apart from his coaching career, he has been referred to as the "Wall" of Indian cricket due to his sheer classical defence helping the team sail through collapses in his career. His copybook style of shots was the highlight of his career. Dravid has represented India in 164 Tests, 244 ODIs and one T20I match in a career that went for 18 long years. He has 13288 runs in Tests, the fourth-best career tally in the all-time list, starring 36 tons and 63 fifties. Not just Test he was able to show his batting prowess in white ball too scoring 10889 runs in ODIs, the 10th-best tally in world cricket starring 12 centuries and 83 half-centuries.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma honoured
India’s star batter Virat Kohli, captain Rohit Sharma and Speedster Mohammad Shami were honoured too in the award ceremony. The trio played a pivotal role in India’s run to the WC 2023 which was halted by Australia. Virat won the best ODI batter of the year award. He scored 1377 runs in 2023 including a fantastic World Cup scoring 765 runs in 11 games at an average of 96.62. Meanwhile, the Indian captain too was honoured in the ceremony as he received the Men's International Cricketer of the Year award. He scored 1800 international runs in 2023 with a dominating 597 runs in the ODI World Cup making a mark for his team.
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