5 Controversies in Rahul Dravid's career

Rahul Sharad Dravid – This name would’ve been a superstar if he had played for any country other than India. Not that he didn’t get the due in this country but the fact that he played during the legendary Sachin Tendulkar era meant that most of his heroics were overshadowed more often. Well neither Sachin nor Dravid could’ve done anything about it and the duo won many matches together for India in the Tests and ODIs.

Despite all of this, Rahul Dravid has managed to carve out a page for himself in the Indian cricket’s rich history. Rather he is one of the most important pages of it. His patience and temperament on the field and down to earth attitude off the field made the people love him more than Tendulkar and other superstars of Indian cricket at times.

With all the limelight comes the controversy as well and unfortunately, this man wasn’t an exception to it too. Dravid, most of the times, kept himself under the radar but controversial incidents found him during his 17-year cricketing career.

Here we bring you five controversies in Rahul Dravid’s career:

1. Declaring the innings when Sachin was on 194*

This has to top the list when one associates Rahul Dravid with controversies. The man himself had once said that he has been asked this question thousands of times now and is still being questioned over the same. It was the Multan Test against the arch-rivals Pakistan in 2004 which was already lit up by Virender Sehwag who had scored a scintillating 309 in the first innings.

The game didn’t need any more attention but this declaration stays associated with the game. After Sehwag’s brilliant knock, Sachin had taken control of the innings and at 675/5, India were dominating the Test match with close to 16 overs left on the second day. Tendulkar was unbeaten on 194 when Yuvraj Singh fell in the form of the fifth wicket after scoring 59 runs.

While the fall of wicket didn’t even excite Pakistan fans, what followed later was bizarre. The stand-in captain Rahul Dravid declared India’s innings knowing his teammate was one shot away from getting to a well-deserved double century. Sachin had to oblige to his captain’s call and walk back to the dressing room.

While the reason for Dravid’s declaration is still unknown, there was a lot of furore over the same speculating a possible fallout between the two legends of Indian cricket. However, Sachin Tendulkar cleared in his book that the declaration didn’t impact their friendship at all.