Glenn McGrath and Muralitharan were the toughest bowlers I faced, says Rahul Dravid

Even ‘The Wall – Rahul Dravid’ had a few bowlers he feared to face

Rahul Dravid, the second-highest Test run-scorer for India, has mentioned Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan as the toughest bowlers that he had faced throughout his glittering career. “As far as fast bowler is concerned, Glenn McGrath was the toughest I have faced, I have played him at the peak of his career and he was truly a great bowler. When he was bowling well it was very difficult to judge your off stump,” said Dravid, who was interacting with his followers during a Q&A session on Facebook.

He further said, “He kept challenging you, kept testing you just around that off stump. He was a very aggressive bowler irrespective of whether he was bowling his first or second over or the 25th over, he was always at you, probing and asking questions.”

McGrath is the highest wicket-taker amongst fast bowlers in Tests, with a tally of 563 wickets from 124 Tests.

Dravid is currently the coach of the India A and the India U-19 sides. In a remarkable career, Rahul scored 13,288 runs in Test matches for India at an average of 53, with 36 centuries, and 10,889 runs in the ODIs, with 12 hundreds.

Murali would spin the ball a long way: Dravid

Talking about slow bowlers, he mentioned the Sri Lankan legend, and the highest wicket-taker across Tests and ODIs, Muttiah Muralitharan, to be the toughest spinner that he had faced. “Muttiah Muralitharan was the best I have played against. Murali was an extremely skillful bowler, he could spin the ball both ways, not by little bit but by a long way. It was very difficult to pick and read. He had great consistency and control,” Dravid said.

Murali has 800 Test wickets from 133 Tests, and 534 wickets from 350 ODIs.

Dravid is remembered time and again for his innumerable contributions to Indian cricket, some of the noticeable ones being the 233 and 72* during the famous Adelaide Test of 2003-04 tour to Australia, which included a 303-run partnership with VVS Laxman, and the Kolkata Test of 2001 against Australia, where he and Laxman again had stitched up a 376-run stand, thereby enabling India to come back after following-on and eventually winning the game by 171 runs.

Vijay’s performance on difficult wickets have been exceptional: Dravid

Dravid had scored 180 runs in the second innings and had played a brilliant supportive role to VVS Laxman’s historic 281*. Dravid, though, had another moment in store when asked about his best moments in the Indian dressing room.

He mentioned the 2004 series victory in Pakistan to be one of the best moments of his career. “Best moment in the dressing room was winning the Test series in Pakistan, winning the Test in Australia at Adelaide (in 2003-04). It’s always a great feeling to win a Test or a Test series because the boys work so hard for five days, for the whole series to achieve their goal,” said Dravid.

Dravid also praised the current Indian Test opener Murali Vijay, for his consistent and improved performance in the past couple of years. “His judgement of length and line has been quite exceptional. His performance in very difficult wickets in England and Australia and in some of the turning tracks here has been fantastic,” said Dravid of Vijay.

He was also a brilliant slip catcher, and currently holds the world record for the most number of catches taken by non-wicketkeeping player in Test matches. His partnership with his fellow India and Karnataka team-mate Anil Kumble – who himself is India’s highest wicket-taker across Tests and ODIs – is fondly remembered.

On days when Kumble was on song, the scorecard had many ‘c Dravid b Kumble’ marks against the batsmen’s names. He believes that the current duo of Ravi Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane can better this record.