The 29-year-old Indian all-rounder Vijay Shankar has recently revealed that he was a big fan of the legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid. Shankar also opened up when he became a big fan of the former Indian captain.
Rahul Dravid was one of the greatest batsmen in international cricket history. Due to his solid defensive batting approach, Dravid got the famous nickname “The Wall”. He ended his career as the second most run-scorer for India as the right-handed batsman scored 24208 runs in 605 innings (509 matches) with an average of 45.41. Dravid also led the Indian national cricket team from 2005 to 2007.
On the other hand, after making an international debut in March 2018, the all-rounder Vijay Shankar has played 12 ODIs and nine T20Is. He also represented the national team during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 where he was unfortunately injured and later he was ruled out from the middle stage of that tournament.
I became a big fan of Rahul Dravid after the Adelaide Test in 2003: Vijay Shankar
Recently, Shankar revealed that he became a big fan of Rahul Dravid after his incredible batting performance during the 2003 Adelaide Test against the hosts Australia.
Shankar told David Warner during the Instagram live session, “I looked up to Rahul Dravid growing up, I became a big fan of him after the Adelaide Test in 2003, that was an amazing knock.”
In that Test match, after the hosts Australia managed to score 556 runs in the first innings, India were once struggling on 85/4 in their first innings. Then Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman set a marathon partnership of 303 runs for the fifth wicket which changed the entire game. While Laxman scored 148 runs in that crisis period, Dravid batted till the end of that innings and scored 233 runs while India were bowled out for 523 runs.
Later, the Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar (6/41) destroyed the Australian batting line-up in their second innings as the hosts were bundled out for 196 runs. Chasing down the challenging 230 runs target in the fourth innings, Dravid again played the massive role with his 72 not out and guided the national team to the historic victory.