'The way he batted against Wasim Akram made us believe he is special': Inzamam-ul-Haq praises Rahul Dravid

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq heaped praise on former India captain Rahul Dravid and shared his first thoughts about Dravid when the legendary cricketer had first burst onto the scenes in 1995-96.

Inzamam narrated how he wanted to see how Dravid bats in a five-match ODI series against Pakistan in Canada in 1996 as someone had sung his praises.

“When I first saw him, I remember we were playing in Canada. Someone told me that this new boy plays well. So I thought of having a look at him,” said Inzamam in his YouTube channel.

Inzamam said the way Dravid scored off Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at such a young age gave him the indication that Dravid was made for something big.

“We had Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis who were known terrorise the youngsters with their pace and swing. Wasim and Waqar’s name was enough for any youngster. But the confidence with which Dravid played them made us believe that he is special,” he said.

Dravid, who had made his ODI debut barely a few months ago in Singapore, came to his own in this five-match series against Pakistan. He did not score a century but his consistency throughout the tournament cemented his place in the ODI side. Dravid scored 220 runs in those five matches against Pakistan with the highest score of 90.

Inzamam further highlighted Dravid’s greatness by narrating how the former India captain had nullified Pakistan’s ploy of bowling at his pads from around the wicket in a Test match in Kolkata.

“It is very difficult to score runs when spinners bowl from around the wicket and into the rough. In a Test against India in Kolkata, I asked Danish Kaneria to bowl to him from around the wicket but after a while, I realised that he was scoring more runs against him. I have seen a lot of great players struggle to score when the spinner bowls into the rough but Dravid made it look so easy,” he said.

Dravid had scored centuries in both innings in that Test match in Kolkata in 2005 which India won by 195 runs.

Further explaining Dravid’s greatness, Inzamam said, Dravid’s biggest ability was to score away from home.

“Dravid used to score runs away from home. If you look at his record, it is simply outstanding. He has scored close to 24-25 thousand runs. This is not easy. Ask Dravid and you will know. He had to perform at the top level with the same consistency for close to 20 years to achieve all this,” he said.

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