My wife calls him the chocolate boy (to my consternation) and come Friday, India's man friday will call it a day. I believe he has been India's greatest match winning batsman along with VVS Laxman (Tendulkar is not one of them). His 270 at Adeliade followed by 72 in second innings, his century at Nottingam in 2007, his 270 odd vs Pakistan at Multan 2004, his 75 ag West Indies at Jamaica in 2007 - all were classical Dravid innings. Backs to the wall saving team India...
I remember watching Dravid score 148 at Johannesburg in 1996-97 tour of SA amidst phenomenal bowling by Donald and Pollock. I remember ofcourse his famous 96 at Lords on test debut. These were early signs of greatness which translated in a productive 2002-2006 period
As a capital he was way below average esp since he was filling Ganguly's footsteps but he will be remembered as the only Indian captain apart from Ajit Wadekar to lead India to test series wins in England and West Indies. He owes his ODI career to decision of Sourav Ganguly to force Dravid to don the keeping gloves. The connoisseurs will appreciate that for a few years 2002 - 2005, he was India's ODI wicket keeper and he used to bat at 5/6/7 for a bit. These were the best years of his ODI batsmanship. The recognition of the fact that he was contributing beyond batting by donning his keeping gloves provided him with ample confidence in ODI arena.
He was the ultimate team man and was always selfless. Kept wickets despite having little interest and opening the innings more often than regular openers
For me, Sehwag & Dravid were the ultimate cricket entertainers. Viru is an obvious choice, Dravid for sheer ability to play solid against test fast bowling stood out. I always enjoyed watching Dravid. Thanks Rahul for the entertainment, we will miss you.
All the best to Virat Kohli - a worthy successor at 3
