Jamaica, June 20: Rahul Sharad Dravid will complete 15 years in international cricket when he walks out to bat in the first Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Dravid who first debuted in a Test match against England at Lord’s on June 20, 1996, has since gone on to amass more than 22000 runs in Tests and ODIs combined.

The Sabina Park Test will also mark Dravid’s 151st appearance in Test cricket. Speaking on the milestone after his first training session at Sabina Park, Dravid said, “I am relaxed, but there is always a pressure to go and score runs, irrespective of who you are. You want to make a contribution, but you know that there is a lot [that] you have accomplished, a lot that you have already done, which cannot be taken away from you. So I do relax more with regard to that part of the game.”

“But when I go into a game, I am still nervous. That never changes, whether I am playing my first game or my 151st game. The reason that I continue playing is because I love the contest and love the vibes. I am still enjoying the game,” added Dravid.

Dravid’s tally of 12063 runs puts him as the third highest run-getter behind Sachin Tendulkar [14692 runs] and Ricky Ponting [12363 runs] in Test cricket. In ODIs, Dravid, with 10765 runs, is placed at number seven among the leading run-getters. With 200 catches in Test matches to his credit, Dravid also holds the record for taking the maximum number of catches in Test cricket.

Dravid first batted at No. 3 in the Ahmedabad Test against South Africa in November 1996, but it was with his innings of 148 and 81 in the Johannesburg Test of the 1996-97 tour of South Africa that Dravid established himself at that position. Yet, when India were made to follow-on at Kolkata against Australia in 2001, Dravid, with an innings of 180, scripted that remarkable turnaround with VVS Laxman (376-run partnership) while batting at No. 6.

One of Dravid’s greatest accomplishments has been his leading role in India’s overseas victories during the course of his international career. Whether it was his innings of 148 at Leeds in 2002, or 233 at Adelaide in 2003, 270 at Rawalpindi in 2004, or a match aggregate of 149 runs on a difficult Sabina Park wicket in 2006, Dravid was often the fulcrum around which India registered its most memorable wins.

It was under Dravid’s captaincy that India recorded its first Test series victory in the West Indies in 35 years in 2006 and in England in 21 years in 2007.

Ever the team man, Dravid also played a vital role in India’s dream run at the 2003 ICC World Cup. Picked to play in the makeshift role of a wicketkeeper-batsman, Dravid’s satisfactory glove-work gave the Indian squad the required balance that took them all the way to the final.