Dravid the best since Bradman

<div class="section1"><div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="0" width="32.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/1056973.cms" alt="/photo/1056973.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Rahul Dravid has hit hundreds against all Test playing nations on their soil.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">NEW DELHI:</span> Ever since he made a near perfect debut, almost 10 years ago at Lord''s, and yet ceded the limelight to Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid has been the king of the shadows.<br /><br />He scored his 20th century on Saturday, broke a handful of records on his way and has probably won more hearts than any other Indian cricketer. Yet he somehow remains in the background in the pantheon of current Indian batting Gods. <br /><br />True, he is not a prodigal talent like Sachin Tendulkar; he doesn''t have the explosive power or magical timing of Virender Sehwag; he can''t even bat with the artistry or flourish of VVS Laxman. Yet, Dravid is the first Indian batsman on the radar of every opposing team and captain. <br /><br />Bowlers fear him, teammates admire him and seniors respect him. For many, he is technically one of the soundest batsmen that India has ever produced. So what if he lives and rules, quite unwittingly, from the shadows of an imaginary world? <br /><br />On a scintillating Saturday at Eden Gardens, however, he took two steps closer towards the spotlight by lifting his career average to 58.87. Only Sir Don Bradman, with 99.94, is ahead of him among all batsmen who have scored at least 5,000 runs. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Double Treat: </span><br />Dravid is only the ninth batsman to score a century in both innings of a Test twice. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">The others are: </span><br />Sunil Gavaskar (thrice), Alan Border, Greg Chappell, Aravinda De Silva, Matthew Hayden, George Hedley, Bert Sutcliffe, Clyde Walcott. </div> </div>