Rahul Dravid reveals the secret behind his 2001 knock against Australia

Rahul Dravid is one of the best batsmen the country has ever produced, there is no one arguing that. Dravid was the technician of the team, he was sound with his defence and was mentally as strong as anyone in international cricket. His mental ability was seriously tested during the Australian visit in 2001.

Dravid’s struggle during that series was real. Runs were hard to come by and the management was losing patience. He needed a big knock and so did India. Australia was on a winning streak of 16 Test matches and India were on the verge of losing another. The wall was then pushed down to number six and Steve Waugh made sure Dravid remembered.

Steve Waugh’s sledgehammer

Rahul was talking at the Go Sports Athletes Conclave in Bangalore on 15th December. He walked everyone through the incident. The first three days of the Test match were absolutely dominated by the Australians. The Indians were facing defeat and Dravid was facing the struggle of his lifetime.

“In the first three days of the Test match, we were sort of completely beaten. Personally as well, my form was not good. I hadn’t scored runs in Bombay. I hadn’t hit runs in the first innings. In fact, I was demoted to No. 6 in the batting order,” he explained.

When he went out to bat, the next thing he heard was Steve Waugh’s voice. The Aussie was trying to get into his head. “In the second innings, when I walked in, Steve said ‘Rahul No. 6 in this innings, what is it in the next innings? No. 12?’ It was just his way of sledging me,” he added.

“It’s part of the history that VVS Laxman and I batted the whole day in Calcutta and we went on to win the Test match. Harbhajan Singh bowled beautifully well on the fifth day and we won the match and in Madras as well,” the former Indian captain continued.

That Test match will go down in the history as one of the best. Respect for Dravid and Laxman just gets higher after listening to this story. This is the day India found the real Dravid and Dravid unlocked another level of his own potential.