When he played he enticed and now after his retirement he still continues to influence a lot of people. Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid who had retired from ODI and T20’s last year after getting a surprise recall for ODI series against England finally called it a day from Test as well.
His batting prowess has earned him the sobriquet ‘The Wall’ and was regular campaigner for India in the number three position. Numbers that he piled up are huge but they never meant anything for him as he always used put his team ahead of him. He has played a lot of great knocks for India in test crickets. Here are his five of his best Test knocks which set new benchmark for test batting in the World.
1) 233* against Australia at Adelaide in 2003: The match saw India making one of the greatest comebacks in the history of test cricket in the World. India who was almost to lose the Test by an innings almost raised from the ashes with the help Dravid and Laxman. They batted with resiliency and Dravid went against all the odds to score a double century in the match which India eventually won. He played for a mammoth 853 minutes.
2) 81 and 68 against West Indies at Jamaica in June 30- July 2, 2006: India won the Test match by 49 runs and with that won the series in the West Indies. The Sabina Park pitch was terrible for batting and Dravid was the only batsman to have substantial score against his name in both the innings. Dravid was the captain of the team and played a perfect captain’s knock.
3) 148 against South Africa at Johannesburg, Jan. 1997: That was Dravid’s maiden Test hundred and it came against the best bowling attack at that time. Dravid played against the likes of Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Brian McMillan and made a superb Test century. India was very close to winning the game but the rain gods has other ideas and the match ended up in a draw.
4) 180 against Australia at Kolkata in 2001: One of the best Test innings ever played under pressure. India was staring a defeat at their backyard but a partnership between Laxman and Dravid saw them win the match. The innings that he played remains as one of the best one in cricket and also remains very close to his heart. India went on to win a memorable Test series.
5) 270 against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 2004: He batted more than 12 hours and scored his highest individual score and helped India pick up the famous win by an innings over their arch rival Pakistan. India went up to win the series in Pakistan.
