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Legendary Australia batter Matthew Hayden heaped massive praise on India's batting great Rahul Dravid for battling against every challenging situation in his career with calm and great grace.

Hayden lauded Dravid for the success he achieved as both a player and a coach with grace and the standards. Dravid needs no introduction in the world of cricket and he continues to showcase why he is an icon within the cricketing fraternity. Also known as the ‘The Wall’ Dravid stood tall for the Indian team on many occasions and one one such memorable innings came in 2001 at Eden Gardens against Australia.

The legendary duo Dravid and VVS Laxman built a formidable partnership of 376 runs that played a key role in India's astonishing comeback triumph at Eden Gardens. During that historic Test match in 2001, Dravid displayed his class with a masterclass innings of 180 runs while Laxman recorded a glorious knock of 281 runs – then the highest individual score by an Indian in Test cricket.

Notably, former India head coach Dravid was recently honoured with the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the Ceat Cricket Rating Awards.

“Sadly, from an Australian cricket point of view, it was the incredible partnership that he had up at Eden Gardens. There was nothing more sacred than that partnership with VVS Laxman. We walked onto the bus that day up in Kolkata and there was a fresh box of Cuban cigars Michael Slater said we’ll be smoking these at the end of the day and we’ll have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” said Hayden as quoted by The Hindustan Times. 

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India was compelled to follow after the bizarre first-innings score of 171. Despite trailing with a huge 276 runs, Laxman and Dravid's mammoth partnership made sure that India have a big total on board to make a comeback in the game.

Hayden disclosed that the Aussies were at the time stunned by the fightback and determination shown by Dravid and applauded how he set an example as a player and as a leader.

“Well, you had something to say about that batting all day with VVS Laxman in an extraordinary partnership. Obviously, the one in Adelaide as well was just something else. Under pressure, Australia put everything on the line against Rahul and did it with great grace, great composure, and always a great sense of fairness. In a game, which can tempt you to win at all costs Rahul Dravid won on the principles of cricket and the principles of life,” he concluded.

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After his glorious career as the player, he went on to become India's head coach to help the national side witness one of their most dominant and successful periods under his tenure. This year he led India to its T20 World Cup title win to end his coaching tenure with Team India on a winning note.

Now he is set to start a new chapter in his life as a head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise, the Rajasthan Royals.