‘He was the glue who held them all together’: Steve Waugh lauds ‘unflappable’ Rahul Dravid

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh was on the forefront of Australia’s rise as an excellent energy in world cricket. After main Australia to their second World Cup title in 1999, Waugh was the captain that was liable for the phrase ‘mighty’ to get added nearly as a prefix to explain the Australian workforce of the early 2000s. Under him, Australia received 16 consecutive Test matches in a row, From October 14, 1999 to 27 February 2001.Waugh got here to India in 2001, terming it as the ultimate frontier in what stays probably the most iconic Test sequence between the 2 sides. After racing to a dominating win in Mumbai, Waugh’s Australia was on the cusp of successful one other Test sequence earlier than two of India’s biggest batsmen VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid modified the course of the tide, to an extent that from the doorways of defeat, India registered one among their most well-known Test wins in historical past.READ | Virat Kohli or Steve Smith – Who is the higher batsman? Answers Andy FlowerWhich is why Waugh can in all probability always remember at the least a type of two batsmen. The former Australia captain, in a video launched by Cricket Australia, defined how Dravid was equally liable for India’s rise as a powerful facet within the 2000s, calling him a participant on par with the nice Sachin Tendulkar. Not limiting his big praises for the wall, Waugh feels Dravid was the ‘glue’ that held the Indian batting collectively.“He was unflappable, fierce concentration, there was no point in trying to ruffle his feathers because you couldn’t do it,” Waugh mentioned within the video. “He was the glue who held them all together and the one banker they had in the side. I knew he was going to score runs, I knew he could occupy the crease and he could repel quality bowling which quality players can do. If he stepped up the gear he could play shots as good as any one, he was a world class player and equally hard to overcome as Tendulkar was.”Waugh’s ultimate Test sequence was one among Dravid’s most interesting – the 2003/04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, wherein India’s former No. 3 batsman tallied 619 runs at an unimaginable common of 123.80 with three fifties and 100. The double century he scored at Adelaide gave India their first win on Australian soil after 22 years. The sequence led to a 1-1 draw with Dravid rising as India’s greatest optimistic.“His concentration and defence were impregnable when he wanted to be and he had that fierce competitive attitude too, the big games really excited him, that’s when he played his best,” Waugh added. “Once he got in, it was so hard. Obviously, the most famous (innings of Dravid) is Kolkata win, he and Laxman batted all day. Pretty much turned the Test around. That was an unwinnable Test match.”Waugh termed Dravid as essential as Tendulkar, declaring how the 2 have been instrumental in forming probably what’s remembered as India’s finest batting line-up. “He was as important to the Indian side as was Sachin Tendulkar. Those guys formed the heart of what was probably India’s best batting line-up,” he mentioned.