Rahul Dravid has been named as the ‘Castrol Test cricketer of the year’ for his brilliant performance in test cricket in 2011. The Castrol awards were given to a number of Indian cricketers a few days ago.
Dravid had announced his retirement from test cricket earlier this year. But, his performance was brilliant in the test matches in 2011. He scored two centuries against West Indies and three centuries against England last year. Rahul Dravid was the only Indian batsman who played the English fast bowlers confidently on the tour of England last year.
Rahul Dravid was the highest run scorer in the test matches in 2011.He played 12 test matches last year in which he scored 1145 runs at an average of 57.25 and at a strike rate of 44.74. He scored 5 centuries and 4 half centuries in 2011. The Sri Lankan batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, was no. 2 in the list who scored 1034 runs in 11 test matches.
Apart from Dravid, some other Indian cricketers were also awarded. Suresh Raina was named as the ‘one day cricketer of the year’. Sachin Tendulkar was named as the ‘batsman of the year’, while, the captain of the Indian U19 team, Unmukt Chand, was named as the ‘junior cricketer of the year’.
The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, was named as ‘cricketer of the year’, but, he was not present in the award ceremony to collect his award. The former Indian captain, Ajit Wadekar, was given the lifetime achievement award.
After getting the award, Dravid said that the last year was very good for him and after the England series, he had thought that he would continue playing for another two years. But, the Australian tour changed his mind set. He started missing the line of the deliveries in Australia and he felt that the time had come for him to quit.