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

5. 50* (22) v New Zealand, Hyderabad, 2003:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jefSvYa_2UA

This is probably the most popular example given by RD fans whenever they indulge in conversations questioning his place in the ODI side. Coming out to bat with only a handful of overs left Dravid blasted his way to a half-century.

Team India was already heading towards a giant score against the Black Caps after tons from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar and they were looking to add as many runs as possible, mainly from Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif towards the back end. But to everyone’s surprise, it was Rahul Dravid who did most of the scoring. He clarified his intentions from the very first ball that he faced. He batted with an urgency in his stance to score off each ball. He played his copybook drives but played them in the air, over the fielders and sometimes over the boundary ropes. When the Kiwis were looking for calmness in the inning, Rahul Dravid batted them to out of the match.

Even the commentators were left in awe. Sanjay Manjrekar called his cameo unexpected in the beginning but escalated to using words like splendid and incredible towards the end. Dravid completed his fifty on the last ball of the inning batting with a strike rate of 227 and registered the second fastest fifty by an Indian in ODIs at that time. New Zealand were always under pressure in the chase of 354 as India won the match quite comfortably.