Rahul Dravid Underestimates His Own Talent: VVS Laxman
Feb 23, 2017 at 10:51 AM
Former India batsman VVS Laxman has said Rahul Dravid managed to come close to Sachin Tendulkar only because of his “sheer hardwork”.
When Rahul Dravid made his Test debut in 1996, Tendulkar was already a veteran of seven international years. But soon, the Karnataka star converted himself into one of the batting mainstays of the Indian team. In fact, the first five years of 2000s saw Dravid becoming the most prized Indian scalp. The stylish right-handed batsman finished his career with 13,288 Tests runs compared to Sachin Tendulkar’s 15,921 runs and Laxman said Dravid managed to perform on par with Tendulkar only due to hard work.
“Sachin (Tendulkar) was already an established cricketer when me and Dravid joined the team. Dravid sometimes underestimates his own talent, but if he has come somewhere close to Sachin it was sheer hard work,” Laxman said at the inaugural sports literature themed festival ‘SporTale’.
He further said Dravid and Virender Sehwag had the maximum impact in India’s away victories. Dravid scored 7690 runs with the help of 21 hundreds outside the country while Sehwag accumulated 3,930 runs including 10 centuries.
“Every player had their space. And, I feel anyone who had great impact in India’s performance overseas was Viru (Virender Sehwag) and Dravid,” said Laxman.
Meanwhile, when Laxman was asked about his historic knock against Australia in 2001, he said:
“Milestones are by product of the situation you are in. What you do under pressure is what matters. My 281 may be remembered by all for that innings helped India beat Australia, but I have played many other meaningful innings in which my score may not be in hundreds.”