Former India pacer RP Singh recently recalled a witty 1999 exchange between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. After Sachin faced rare crowd criticism during an India match, Dravid — then a spectator — couldn’t resist delivering a cheeky one-liner about the incident.
Speaking on the latest episode of JioHotstar special Cheeky Singles, Singh recalled a 1999 incident when he and Dravid were playing a Ranji Trophy match in which the latter scored 199. Later, over dinner at a friend’s place, they watched Sachin bat at a run-a-ball pace in an India game, drawing rare criticism from fans for being too slow. The reaction prompted Dravid to quip that if Sachin wasn’t spared for such an innings, he could only imagine what the crowd would say about his own batting.
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"There was a Ranji Trophy match going on in Meerut, Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Dravid bhai had come to play and scored 199 runs. That night, we went to dinner at someone’s house. India’s match was going on that day, and Sachin paaji was batting. He was playing a run-a-ball innings. We were both sitting on the side, and people were saying, ‘Sachin should play a little faster.’ But he was playing according to the situation of the match. Rahul bhai whispered in my ear, ‘If they are saying so much to him, then how much would they have said to me?’"
{{/usCountry}}"There was a Ranji Trophy match going on in Meerut, Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Dravid bhai had come to play and scored 199 runs. That night, we went to dinner at someone’s house. India’s match was going on that day, and Sachin paaji was batting. He was playing a run-a-ball innings. We were both sitting on the side, and people were saying, ‘Sachin should play a little faster.’ But he was playing according to the situation of the match. Rahul bhai whispered in my ear, ‘If they are saying so much to him, then how much would they have said to me?’"
{{/usCountry}}Singh, however, did not mention which India game he was referring to in his statement.
For the unversed, Dravid—nicknamed "The Wall" for his unflinching defence—once faced an extraordinary barrage of 40 consecutive dot balls before scoring a solitary run during the 2008 Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) against Australia. When Dravid finally nudged the scoreboard, the SCG crowd erupted into a hearty standing ovation—for that lone run. In true Dravid style, he acknowledged the cheer by raising his bat, as though he'd just notched a fifty.