Rahul Dravid, India's greatest No. 3 in Tests and Ajinkya Rahane, India's latest No. 3 in the same format, came under one roof on Friday to launch The Insider, penned by former India opener Aakash Chopra. According to a report in the DNA, Dravid heaped praise on Rahane's catching in Sri Lanka as much as his batting in all formats over the last couple of years. On the other hand, Rahane considered himself lucky to have “played with the world's greatest slip catchers”.
Meanwhile, according to Dravid, Rahane would be better batting at No. 5. On a serious note, Dravid said, “I think he is good at No. 5. He will really make a good No. 4 or No. 5. I am not saying he won't be able to do well at No. 3. But at No. 5, he has the ability to play with the tail, can play a wide range of shots and also has the opportunity to play the second new ball. Five, for me, is the position he will do best. Having said that, he will have to play whichever position he is required to play,” said the 164-Test veteran.
According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Dravid said that at times, like it happened in Sri Lanka, Rahane would have to help the team's cause. "At times for the sake of the team he may have to bat at No. 3," said India's most successful No. 3 Test batsman.
Dravid was full of praise for Rahane for the manner in which he has waited by scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket to force his way into the Indian squad. "The only similarities between us that I see is that both of us had to wait for 4-5 years and score a lot of runs at plus 60 average in domestic cricket before breaking into the Indian team. He has many more shots than me. Ajinkya, perhaps, has been our best batsman over the last few series overseas. He has hit so many hundreds. He has great potential," Dravid gushed in praise of the 27-year-old.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Times of India, Dravid, who holds the world record for the number of catches (210) taken in Tests by a fielder other than the wicket-keeper, singled out the catching of the Virat Kohli-led squad in the series in Lanka as "exceptional".
"Some of the catches we saw in the series were exceptional. For example the catch by Rahane off (Kumar) Sangakkara (off Ravichandran Ashwin in the first innings of the first Test)."
He said with the competition for the batting spots intensifying in the team, following the match-winning century (145) by comeback man Cheteshwar Pujara, a very interesting time is in the offing for Indian cricket.
