Rahul Dravid Narrates Interesting Story About His Iconic 270-Run Knock Against Pakistan
Published - 02 May 2020, 02:11 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:05 AM
India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2003-04 is still fresh in every Indian cricket fan’s mind. The series was a special one for various reasons. It marked the resumption of cricketing ties between the arch-rivals and fans could not have asked for a more competitive series.
India had gone on to win the Test series 2-1. It was the same series where Virender Sehwag had become the first Indian to score a triple century in Tests. In the same series, Rahul Dravid registered his highest Test score and missed a deserving triple century by 30 runs in the Rawalpindi Test.
Recently, the former India skipper opened up about that knock. With the series locked 1-1, it all came down to the third Test at Rawalpindi and Rahul Dravid, who had had a below-par series by his standards until then, chose to rise to the occasion. Before that 270-run knock in the third Test, Rahul Dravid had scored 6, 33 and 0 in the first two games.
India started the game on a good note by dismissing the hosts for just 224 on the first day. But Pakistan started well with the ball too as Shoaib Akhtar dismissed in-form Sehwag for a golden duck. Rahul Dravid then walked in and had a huge task on his hand.
The seasoned campaigner did a commendable job with Parthiv Patel to take India to safety. But something happened after the close of play on Day 1 that would go on to strike everyone 24 hours later. In a recent interview, he revealed how he felt good after the first day’s play and had also made a light-hearted prediction about him getting a big score in the game.
“I remember being 15 or something at the close of play on Day 1. I had just gone down to have dinner with a few people that night and just happened to be sitting, a few journalists were around as well. I just felt really good about my batting at that stage, I felt that I’ve batted well for the 15 runs, I felt I had batted well in the series with no significant score,” Rahul Dravid said in an interview aired on Star Sports.
“So As I was leaving, I sort of made this off the cup remark, didn’t really mean it that much. But I said, ‘look if I get set tomorrow and bat for an hour, you know you’re gonna see a big one from me. And so it happened, I went on to score 270 so people came and said, ‘how did you know’ and all that,” he added.
India, meanwhile, went on to thrash Pakistan by an innings and 131 runs to claim the series 2-1.
