Dravid was born in a Marathi family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His family later moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, where he was raised. His mother tongue is Marathi. Dravid's father worked for a company that makes jams and preserves, giving rise to the later nickname Jammy.

Dravid's poor form in Tests continued as India suffered a 0-2 whitewash against South Africa in a home series. Tendulkar resigned from captaincy in March 2000 after the humiliating loss to South Africa amidst much speculations. Sourav Ganguly, the team's vice-captain then, was promoted as the new Indian team captain and Dravid was appointed as his deputy. The newly appointed vice-captain had moderate success in the bilateral ODI series against South Africa. Dravid scored 208 runs in 5 matches at an average of 41.60 including 2 fifties. He also took 3 wickets in the series including two wickets in a single over in the First ODI at Kochi. His bowling figures of 2/43 in 9 overs remained his career best ODI bowling figures. It was also the best bowling figure by any bowler for that particular match. His series bowling average of 22.66 was the best amongst all the bowlers in the series. India won the series 3-2. India played a tri-nation series in Sharjah immediately after the bilateral ODI series against South Africa. Indian team performed poorly and failed to qualify for the Finals. Collective failure of Indian batting in the series can be judged from the fact that Dravid, with a poor show of 89 runs from 4 matches at an average of 22.25, was still the 2nd best Indian batsman in the series. A week later, a match fixing scandal rocked the international cricket scene opening a Pandora's box that eventually engulfed top Indian and South African cricketers including Azharuddin and Cronje.

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India played a tri-nation series in Sharjah immediately after the bilateral ODI series