Rahul Dravid, Test cricket’s most successful number three batsman, announced his retirement on Friday.

'The Wall' addressed the media at his home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, bringing the curtain down on an international career that spanned 16 years.

India’s 0-4 Test whitewash in Australia, at the back of an identical drubbing in England last year, had put pressure on out-of-form seniors to make way for youngsters in the team. Dravid, 39, appears set to become the first of the three senior batsmen to do so, the others being Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman.

“All I can say is there was, and is, only one Rahul Dravid and there can be no other,” Tendulkar said. “I will miss him in the dressing room and out in the middle.”

Dravid had been in sublime touch in England, where he scored three centuries, but struggled in Australia, where he was bowled six times in eight innings as his trademark watertight defence developed holes for once.

Even after the England high, retirement had always seemed to be on his mind. During the subsequent home series against West Indies, he had hinted he wouldn’t be around for long. “Another set of players will have to begin the quest to make India the No.1 team in the world again. It won’t be an easy task but the young batsmen will have to raise their game and the current crop of fast bowlers must perform consistently in all conditions,” he had said.

Through his career, Dravid has been a reassuring presence in the dressing room. In a line-up full of flamboyant batsmen, he provided the sobering influence that held innings together with his ability to bat for hours, concentration never wavering, a quality that helped him make a number of match-winning contributions in difficult conditions.

Dravid has scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests at 52.31, with 36 hundreds, the run aggregate second only to Tendulkar’s. He has take 210 Test catches, a record, and 196 in ODIs. He has captained India in 25 Tests and won series in Pakistan, West Indies and England. Even if he does retire on Friday, he will remain the Rajasthan Royals skipper in IPL 5 next month.