Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played for team India. With his sound knowledge of the game, concentration, and unmatchable skills of the game of cricket, he earned the title of “The Wall” and ‘Mr. Dependable’.
Besides his amazing cricketing skills, Rahul Dravid was renowned for his masterplans and making effective captaincy decisions. In fact, Rahul Dravid was the skipper of team India from 2005 when Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the position. Rahul led the Indian team during the 2007 World Cup.
India’s out of favor batsman, Suresh Raina who is amongst the best fielders produced by the country, took an impressive catch at a short point during one of the ODI games, during India’s tour to Pakistan, in the year 2006.
Recently, Suresh Raina talked about the masterplan of Rahul Dravid, where the fielder, bowler and skipper, all were involved to dismiss Pakistani batsman Kamran Akmal. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan delivered a ball to Akmal to smack a square drive by pushing the ball outside the off-stump.
And as planned by Rahul Dravid, the ball raced off Kamran Akmal’s bat and Raina was quick to grab the opportunity. Spilling the beans on the masterplan of Rahul Dravid, Suresh said:
“I remember the catch against Pakistan which I had taken at point. Rahul Dravid was our captain, Irfan Pathan was the bowler and Kamran Akmal was batting. There was a rule at that time to keep catching fielders in the 15 yards. So Rahul bhai asked me will you stand at point? I said ‘yes please tell me where to stand’. He said lean forward and be ready to take a catch,”
He added:
“The moment Irfan delivered the next ball, Akmal smashed it hard, I just saw the ball and it came straight into my hands. The thing that impressed me most was that Rahul bhai knew it that a catch might come there and it came in the next delivery,” he said.
“The reason why I remember that catch is that captain, bowler, fielder everybody was involved. And it is a job of the fielder to always be ready for a catch,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina was all set to play for his franchise Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League, which was postponed indefinitely because of Coronavirus pandemic.
