‘It’s the ball of my life’ – Sohail Tanvir on dismissing Rahul Dravid in his debut Test

Sohail Tanvir might have only played two Tests in his career, but he has some fond memories in the longer format. The left-armer pinned India’s Rahul Dravid to open his account in Test cricket at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Tanvir pitched the ball up and Dravid played all around it. The latter was beaten all ends up and the leather cannoned into the off-stump.

Going down the memory lane, the 35-year-old Tanvir said that it’s the best delivery he has ever bowled in his entire career. The speedster said that he took cues from how the legendary Wasim Akram dismissed ‘The Wall’ of Indian cricket once.

“The way I got Dravid out, I would still say that was the ball of my life. I remember Wasim [Akram] bhai got Dravid out the same way, with the same line and length, out-swinging from leg-stump to take the off-stump. That was a dream ball for me,” Tanvir was quoted as saying during an interview on the YouTube show Cric Cast.

Bowling against Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman was remarkable: Sohail Tanvir

Tanvir made a decent start to his career in the red-ball format. Apart from Dravid, he also managed to get rid of Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh in the first innings. In the second innings, he had to return wicketless though.

The Rawalpindi, Punjab-born was also privileged to bowl to the likes of Ganguly, Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. Tanvir admitted that breaching Dravid’s defense was tough and sounded happy to have dismissed him.

“Bowling against the greats like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman and Ganguly especially in India was remarkable. These are the guys that have made thousands of runs in Test cricket. They have so many achievements.

“Especially if you talk about Rahul Dravid, he was called the wall. Breaking through his defense was very hard, being a youngster and especially it being a surprise call since I wasn’t prepared for the Test side at the time,” he added.

The second Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata turned out to be his last in the format. Back in April 2017, Tanvir last wore the national jersey in the T20I series against the West Indies. He was recently a part of the Multan Sultans in the 2020 Pakistan Super League (PSL).