Rahul Dravid offers a classy gesture as Nepal beats India at the U-19 Asia Cup

A pat on your back from none other than  Rahul Dravid doesn’t come every day. And Nepal did achieve a feat which you don’t often see happening in a cricket field, ie. beating India at the U-19 Asia Cup. India were beaten by Nepal in the 50-over tournament on Sunday, and post the match, India’s U-19 coach Dravid congratulated the Nepal unit on beating a much stronger side on papers.

The game might remind you of the 1983 world cup finals between India and West Indies, where underdogs India posted 183 on the board but ended up winning the game against the favorites. Similar scenes were witnessed as Nepal posted a total of 185 in their 50 overs. On a pitch that encouraged spin, India didn’t start too bad, as their scorecard read 91/1 in the 23rd over. But the defending champions failed to cross the final hurdle and lost to Dipendra Singh Airee’s 4/39.

Dravid’s class act

Nepal’s coach Binod Kumar Das appreciated Dravid’s gesture and said that they were thrilled on being praised by the legendary former Indian captain. “Dravid has been very humble. He congratulated us,” Das told ESPNcricnfo after the victory in Kuala Lumpur. “He said we deserved this win as much as anybody else. He also said we played better than anybody else in the tournament. We are happy he acknowledges our effort. We are thrilled to have his support with us.”

Das, who led Nepal during his playing days, lauded the effort put in by the boys. “We can take a lot of pride in fielding and also in our bowling. Today was another example of executing that. India got off to a good start, but we managed to pull them back.”

This is not the first time when Dravid has won hearts off the field. Back in 2007, when Bangladesh defeated a strong Indian side at the world cup in West Indies; Dravid, the Indian skipper then, walked up to youngster Tamim Iqbal and presented him a bat for his match-winning heroics.