Last year, the youth in India chose industrialist Anil Ambani as their preferred icon, and this year teenagers and young adults are rooting for cricketer Rahul Dravid. The Wall (as Dravid is fondly addressed by the media) has been selected as the MTV Youth Icon 2004 from among heavyweight probables such as economist and Noble Prize-winner Amartya Sen, superstar Amitabh Bachchan, fashion designer Ritu Beri, anchor-cum-actor Shekhar Suman, music director A R Rehman and industrialist Ratan Tata.

The Youth Icon, says Alex Kuruvilla, managing director, MTV Networks India, is an endeavour to understand the youth and get into their minds. "It is an attempt to identify the role models of today's youth and thus understand the values they cherish."

This year, research agency IMRB conducted a study among the youth in ten cities to draw up a list of candidates for the Youth Icon Award. A multi-media voting process was subsequently put in place to arrive at the final winner.

Commenting about being selected as the MTV Youth Icon 2004, Rahul Dravid says, "It is great to be selected as the MTV Youth Icon, especially considering the eminence of the other nominees. It is truly a humble feeling."

Kuruvilla of MTV adds, "Rahul's selection only goes to show that hard work, consistency, and of course, talent gets an individual to the top. There is no shortcut to success."