Mr.Dependable 'The Rahul Dravid'....

They say that Cricket is a Gentleman's game and this statement truly proves its worth for this individual "Rahul Sharad Dravid" born on 11th January 1973 in Indore, India.

Dravid was born in a Marathi family and then later his family moved to Bangalore, Karnataka where he was brought up, he did his schooling in St Joseph's Boys high school in Bangalore and later earned a bachelors degree in commerce and an MBA from ST Joseph's College of Commerce and Business Administration, Bangalore.

Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 12 and he also represented Karnataka State at under 12, 15 & 19 levels. His shear dedication towards the game of cricket was something to inspire for the budding young cricketers of that time, The Bangalore boy was a true champion all rounder, he was brilliant at studies as well as Cricket, his perseverance and dedication of the learning the game of cricket didn't go unnoticed, as one day when Dravid was getting trained during one of his summer camps at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore he was noticed by one of the great former Indian cricketer 'Keki Tarapore' and 'Keki' took him directly to the Ranji Trophy circuit and then the rest was history. At Ranji Trophy too Dravid showed his class with his brilliant class batting and also wicket-keeping, he was playing with Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath in the Ranji Trophy matches who went onto become the team mates with him in the Indian National Cricket Team on a later stage together.

Dravid made his one day international debut against Sri Lanka in Singer Cup being played at Singapore on the 3rd April 1996 which was soon after the 1996 cricket world cup, at that time Dravid was taken as a mere replacement in place of Vinod Kambli but the selectors that decision turned to have been the golden turning point for his career. Dravid is the most successful no.3 spot player in the batting order for the Indian cricket team over the years, 
Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from Test as well as One day internationals in March 2012


     
source wikimedia.org


Dravid's father use to work for a company which use to make Jams and preserves which earned him a nickname "Jammy". Dravid is also called as "The Wall" & "Mr. Dependable" in the world of cricket, he has been called as the "The Wall" because Dravid has been the only player who use to stand on the batting crease like a wall and it use to be the most difficult part for the opposite teams to make him out. Dravid is the only player in the world cricket history who has emerged on the scene of cricket in all formats of the game starting from One Day Internationals to Test Cricket to T20 matches, Initially when he started his career Dravid was termed as the greatest Test Batsman of all time but over the years he has been the budding T20 cricket with great improvisations in his game and the one who gives the young T20 cricketers a run for their money even at the Indian Premier League stage.

The Hansie Cronje 'South African Cricket Legend'

On 25th September 1969 a South African superstar Wessel Johannes popularly known in the world of cricket by name 'Hansie Cronje' was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State Province, South Africa. He graduated in 1987 from Grey college bloemfontein and later earned a bachelor of commerce degree from University of the free state.

He represented Orange free state province in cricket and rugby at the school level. He had an elder brother Frans Cronje and a younger sister Haster Parsons. Not many of them know that his father had represented Orange free state in cricket in 1960s, from his early childhood days he had a shear passion for cricket.

Hansie made his first-class cricket debut for Orange Free State against Transvaal at Johannesburg in January 1988 at the age of 18 and then there was no looking back, he went on to make his province state win all the inter state matches with his bating  brilliance by scoring maiden centuries which earned him a place in the national cricket team after having played first class cricket for four years.

Cronje made his one day international debut against Australia in the 1992 Cricket world cup, but the turning point of his career came in the year 1993 when South African National Cricket team toured India and during their tour in one of the historical matches he hit a famous six when his team needed merely 6 runs to win from 1 ball and they lifted the trophy, post the series from just being the youngest experienced player in the team he went onto become the captain of the south african national cricket side was one of the benchmarks which no other south african cricketer had achieved by that time.

Hansie Cronje has been named as one of the greatest all rounders South Africa and cricket world has ever produced. 

Cronje was the only captain which had taken South Africa to semifinals in he 1999 cricket world cup prior no other captain had ever been able to make South Africa qualify for even the league matches. Even in the eyes of Sachin Tendulkar Cronje was one of the dangerous bowlers to face during 1990s era. 

In the year of 1999 Hansie Cronje became the most popular personality of South Africa, not only he was a great great batsman of all time but also an exceptional fielder in the team after Johnty Rohdes & Herschelle Gibbs. Cronje played a pioneer role in finding and also shaping up few of the greatest cricketers for South African cricket which include the likes of Johnty Rohdes, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boutcher, Patt Symcox and Shaun Pollock.

But unfortunately the legend of cricket bid his final good bye to the world of cricket in June 2002