London July 22: This is where it all started for ‘The Wall’ of Indian cricket. 15 years ago Rahul Dravid made his debut at the Mecca of cricket, the incomparable Lord’s. It was here that he played a crucial innings of 95 runs and saved the day for India along with another debutant, Sourav Ganguly, in 1996.

“Coming back here you always feel at home, that this is a place of cricket, a place that truly understands the history and the tradition of the game,” he was quoted as saying in the Daily Express. “It meant a lot to me to break into the India team back then,” he added.

“Just to come here on a tour of England [was special], I [was happy that I] had the good fortune to even play the Test match. But there were injuries and I got an opportunity and I knew it was perhaps the only one,” said the former captain who has since than amassed 12314 runs from 152 Tests at an average of 52.40.

“Having waited for years, I knew the significance and importance but I was lucky – I got runs that gave me breathing space to establish myself and give me confidence,” added the Karnataka batsman who has stood solidly between India and defeat in a long and illustrious career.

Speaking about his team’s Achilles’ heel he said, “Starting well here will be important, though, and we do recognise that has been an area of our game that has not been as good as we would like.”

Regarding the teams he said, “I never like to label us as the best or to say that they have the best bowling. But yes, I think the series probably will be decided by that contest.”

“They have high-quality bowlers but whether they are the best I have ever played, we will have to see in the series,” he further added.

“In the four Test matches we will see how they perform against our guys. We too have young bowlers who are improving. One thing’s for sure - it will be a great contest,” he said.