Ramesh Powar reveals Rahul Dravid paid him the biggest compliment

Ramesh Powar has retired from all forms of cricket

Former India spinner Ramesh Powar retired from all forms of cricket after the Ranji match between Gujarat and Mumbai and revealed that Rahul Dravid paid him the biggest compliment, reports Wisden India. Powar’s final domestic game ended in a draw thereby dashing Gujarat’s hope of making it into the knockouts.

Reflecting upon his career, he mentioned a comment from the former India captain, Rahul Dravid, during a Ranji match, to be the biggest compliment that he had ever received. Powar said that Dravid was continuously getting out to him during the domestic games.

“A batsman like Rahul Dravid was also struggling to play me. What more do you want? Someone of the class of Rahul asking you – ‘Ramesh, how should I play you?’ That is the biggest compliment I ever got – that Rahul was getting out to me in domestic cricket. One day he asked ‘how can I play you?’, but I told him ‘I won’t tell you!’“ he said.

Powar relishes the fact that a man of Dravid’s stature actually was finding it difficult to pick him. He played for India under Dravid and said that the captain liked him a lot.

“He liked me a lot. I could make that out. He was surprised himself – ‘how am I getting out, how should I sort this out?’ I later told him because I was playing for India and Rahul was too busy playing for India when Mumbai were playing Karnataka, so I did tell him in the end.”

Earlier, Powar had announced that he would be retiring from all forms of the game after this year’s Ranji Trophy. He played for Mumbai, his home team, for 14 seasons, before switching over to Rajasthan and then to Gujarat for his last three seasons.

Regarded as one of the most classical off-spinners, Powar, though, didn’t enjoy as much success at the International level as he did at the domestic level. He played 2 Tests and picked up six wickets, and 31 ODIs where he picked 34 wickets, for India but played a pivotal role in Mumbai’s success in the Ranji Trophy.

He credited Ramakant Achrekar, the coach of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, to be the one who identified him and picked him as a spinner for the future. Playing alongside Tendulkar, Powar feels, whom he grew up watching during the 1992 World Cup, was a dream come true.

On being asked about the batsman who played him the best, he mentioned VVS Laxman’s name. He said that although he invited the right-handers to drive by pitching outisde off, Laxman had the ability to hit him over long-on against such deliveries.

Being a spinner himself, the obvious question about India’s spin bench strength also came up. Powar looked disappointed as he said that after the trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja, he doesn’t find anyone in the domestic circuit whom he can point out as a future contender for the Indian team.