Rahul Dravid was as important to the Indian side as Sachin Tendulkar: Steve Waugh

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh believes that former Indian wicketkeeper Rahul Dravid was a terrific player and needs the same level of respect and appreciation as the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid was hailed as ‘The Wall’ of Indian cricket during his playing days amassing a whopping 13,288 Test runs in 164 games and 10,889 runs in 344 One Day Internationals for India.

Speaking about the former Indian captain, Steve Waugh opined that Dravid was a glue who bound the whole Indian team together and would always help them survive testing times by scoring runs at crucial stages. Also, Waugh hailed the legendary batsman as a world-class player and reckoned that Dravid could hit any bowler on his day.

“He was unflappable, fierce concentration, there was no point in trying to ruffle his feathers because you couldn’t do it. He was the glue who held them all together and the one banker they had in the side. I knew he was going to score runs, I knew he could occupy the crease and he could repel quality bowling which quality players can do.

If he stepped up the gear he could play shots as good as anyone, he was a world-class player and equally hard to overcome as Tendulkar was,” Waugh praised Dravid while speaking in an interview with Cricket Australia.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar formed the heart of India’s batting line-up: Steve Waugh

Further in the interaction, the 55-year-old labelled Dravid’s stunning knock of 180 runs against Australia during the 2000-01 Border Gavaskar Trophy in Kolkata as one of his most terrific innings. On that day, Dravid had launched an assault on the Australian team, led by Steve Waugh, and had smashed his ninth Test century and first against Australia.

“His concentration and defense was impregnable when he wants to be and he had that fierce competitive attitude too, the big games really excited him, that’s when he played his best. Once he got in, it was so hard. Obviously, the most famous (innings of Dravid) is the Kolkata win, he and Laxman batted all day. Pretty much turned the Test around. That was an unwinnable Test match.”

“He was as important to the Indian side as was Sachin Tendulkar. Those guys formed the heart of what was probably India’s best batting lineup,” Steve Waugh concluded.