Former India captain and batting legend Rahul Dravid Friday announced his retirement from Test cricket to bring the curtains down on his illustrious 16-year-old career.
Addressing a press conference at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here where he was first spotted by Keki Tarapore, an emotional Dravid, 39, bid farewell to the longer format of the game in which he is the second highest run scorer (13,288) after teammate Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid has 36 Test centuries from 164 matches and scored at an average of 52.31.
"I announce my retirement from all forms of international and domestic cricket. I had to make place for the next generation of cricketers," Dravid said.
Dravid had retired from ODIs in England last year after he was surprisingly picked for the team. His decision comes as a slap on the face of the national selectors, who had ignored him for the last two years. Dravid has 10,889 runs at an average of 39.16 with 12 centuries from 344 ODIs.