12 Innings when Rahul Dravid broke the myth of being just a Test batsman

4. 74 (64) v Australia, Brisbane, 2004:

When India lost the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar on a belter of a track in Brisbane, their prime motive was not to lose the momentum. Dravid walked out to bat at no. 4 and ensured that the scoreboard keeps ticking. Brisbane Cricket Ground is one of the bigger grounds in world cricket and Dravid used that beautifully to his advantage. With VVS Laxman calmy inching towards his century, Dravid was elegantly pushing the ball in the gaps running ones and twos. The kind of form he was in (thanks to a wonderful Test series), it seemed like he cannot see any fielders and was constantly placing the ball in the gaps.

He reached his fifty with only one boundary but his strike rate was still over 100. By the time Dravid got out with three more boundaries to his name, India’s run rate had increased from 5.25 in the 29th over when he walked into bat to 5.90 in the 48th over. His 74 off 64 balls helped Laxman notch another hundred on the tour, Indian team to score their first ever 300+ ODI total on Australian soil and most importantly, win the game.

Laxman scored 103* and Sachin made 86 but Rahul Dravid’s 74 was the most attractive inning by an Indian that day and also the only inning that came at a strike rate of better than run a ball (barring Yuvraj Singh who scored 5 off 4 balls).