ON THIS DAY in 2011: Rahul Dravid's final ODI for India and Kohli's maiden century in England

On this day, September 16, 2011, the legendary Rahul Dravid played the last of his 344 ODIs for India, marking the end of an illustrious limited-overs career. Notably, the game was played at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff between India and England.

This was the fifth and final ODI of the series. The tourists were trailing 0-2 in the series and were only playing for pride in the fifth ODI. England won the toss and opted to field first before Indian openers Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane got their team off to a watchful start. They added 52 runs in 12 overs before Rahane was dismissed for a 47-ball 26.

'The Wall' walked out to bat at No. 3 to a grand reception from the Cardiff crowd as he was making his final appearance in the 50-over format. Three overs later, Patel departed for 19 as Virat Kohli joined forces with Dravid. The two right-handed batters played the English bowlers with consummate ease on a decent batting surface.

Rahul Dravid mixed caution with aggression while batting and was sharp with his running between the wickets alongside Kohli. The former India captain looked well set to get to the three-figure mark but he was dismissed by the wily Graeme Swann in the 42nd over for a well-compiled 69 off 79 balls. He hit four boundaries during his innings and stitched a 170-run partnership with Kohli. As a result, this was the highest stand that Dravid had been involved in against England, eclipsing the 169-run stand with Tendulkar in 2002.

The partnership between Dravid and Kohli was the fourth-highest stand for any wicket for India against England back then. After Dravid was dismissed, the England players rushed towards him and congratulated him on a fabulous career. The fans as well as the Indian players gave him a standing ovation as he was making his way back to the pavilion.

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Interestingly, Kohli went on to score his first-ever century on English soil in this game. He smashed 107 off 93 balls as India finished on 304/6. However, England chased down a DLS-revised target of 241 in 32.2 overs with six wickets and 10 balls to spare.

Rahul Dravid's ODI career in numbers

The 51-year-old made his ODI debut in April 1996 against Sri Lanka in Singapore. He went on to play 344 ODI matches for India and finished with an impressive tally of 10,889 runs at an average of 39.17 and a strike rate of 71.24.

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Dravid also registered 83 half-centuries and 12 centuries during his ODI career. He also led India in the 2007 ODI World Cup but the Men in Blue were knocked out in the first round. Under his leadership, India played 79 ODIs, winning 42 and losing 33. The Asian giants also recorded the most number of ODI wins in a row while chasing (17) during Dravid's captaincy tenure.