NEW DELHI, Sept 14: Prolific middle-order batsman Rahul Dravid has stepped down as India captain just a month after leading his team to a rare Test series victory in England, the country’s cricket board said.Dravid, who took over the captaincy from Saurav Ganguly in 2005, said he would continue playing for India, but wanted to concentrate on his batting.

“Dravid met (Indian cricket chief) Sharad Pawar on Thursday and expressed his desire to step down as captain of the Indian team,” board secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement on Friday. “He requested that he should not be considered for the job for the ensuing Australia series. He further assured that he would extend his full co-operation to his successor and contribute as a batsman and a senior player. Dravid wanted to concentrate on his game.”

World Cup winners Australia will arrive in India later this month to play seven One-day Internationals.

The Indian board said it had accepted Dravid’s request to step down and would name a new captain for one-dayers on Tuesday, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni likely to get the job. The India squad will be announced the same day.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni is leading India in the ongoing Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa after Dravid opted out of the tournament.

Dravid, 34, is the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to quit the captaincy for batting in the last seven years. Tendulkar stepped down after a two-Test home series against South Africa in 2000 and was replaced with Ganguly.

India won eight Tests under Dravid, including series victories in the West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh and England. Last month they won their first Test series in England in two decades, and the success in the Caribbean in 2006 was India’s first in 35 years.

Nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his solid defence, Dravid has scored 9,492 runs in 112 Tests with 24 centuries and 10,534 runs in 327 One-day Internationals with 12 hundreds. He is only the third Indian after Tendulkar and Ganguly to score more than 10,000 runs in the shorter version of the game.

“He has discussed the issue with me twice. I think we need to respect his decision,” said Pawar. “He has recently told me that captaincy was affecting his game. He has said he would like to continue playing and improve upon his performance.”

Indian board Vice-President Rajiv Shukla said: “I think the reasons are personal. Every captain has his prerogatives. I think he was feeling the burden (of captaincy).”

Dravid’s most disappointing moment as one-day captain came in the World Cup in the Caribbean early this year when his team were knocked out in the first round after a shock defeat against Bangladesh in the opening match.—AFP