1927
Johnny Hayes, right-arm bowler of New Zealand, was born on this day. In 15 Tests he took 30 wickets. But he was a successful in his first-class career. In 1955-56 he toured India and Pakistan taking 35 wickets at 32.11 in first-class games.
1973
Rahul Dravid, Mr Dependable of Indian cricket, was born on this day. Often referred to as ‘The Wall’, Dravid made his Test debut at Lord’s in 1996 in the same Test match where Sourav Ganguly scored his debut hundred. It was nearly a rare occasion of two debutants scoring a century, but Dravid fell short by 4 runs. In 2002, Dravid made four consecutive Test hundreds, including a masterful 148 at Headingley against England to contribute to India’s overseas victory. He played a total of 164 Tests in which he accumulated 13288 runs along with 36 hundreds. He was also the first player to take 200 catches in Tests.Though not a typical ODI player, Dravid has over 10000 runs in 344 matches. He also shared a record one-day stand of 318 with Sourav Ganguly against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 World Cup.
1998
Muttiah Muralitharan took his first 10 wicket haul against Zimbabwe in Kandy. It came in his 35th Test.
