Looking back at the controversy involving Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in Multan

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are two of the most respected Indian cricketers of all time.

The two batting gladiators have more than 29,000 Test runs and a staggering 87 Test hundreds between them. And these are two men who also stayed away from controversies for a majority of their career.

But there was one incident that took place in 2004 between the two icons that created ripples around the cricketing world.

The setting

India were taking on arch-rivals Pakistan at Multan in the first Test of the series in 2004. Virender Sehwag scored a belligerent 309, Tendulkar a classy 194*, and India amassed 675/5 against a strong Pakistani bowling attack.

Virender Sehwag

Even though India went on to win the match by an innings and 52 runs, the biggest talking point in the match was the timing of the declaration by Dravid, who was the captain at the time.

Tendulkar was stranded just six runs short of a double century as Dravid declared the innings, leaving fans of the Little Master fuming.

The two sides of the story

The plan devised by Dravid and coach John Wright was for India to declare mid-way through the post-tea session, so that Pakistan would have 15 overs to bat in the day. Tendulkar, therefore, took his own time to score his runs, thinking that he would get to his double century if he went at his usual pace.

Sachin Tendulkar in action during the Multan Test

However, a miscommunication late in the day led to plenty of bruised egos. In his 2014 autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’, Tendulkar wrote:

“With more than half an hour into the post-tea session, Ramesh Powar, who was substituting in the game came on the field and asked me to accelerate. I even joked with him, saying that I was aware that we needed quick runs but with the field totally spread out, there was only so much we could do.

“A little later, when I was on 194, he came out again and said I should try to get my double hundred in that over itself as Rahul had decided to declare. I was startled to say the least, because in my mind I still had 12 balls in which to score the remaining six runs before 15 overs were left for the day. As it happened, I did not get to play a single ball in that over with Yuvraj on strike against Imran Farhat. He blocked the first two balls, before picking two runs off the third ball. He once again blocked the fourth ball and was out the first ball.”

That was all the time Tendulkar was given, as Dravid declared the innings at Yuvraj's dismissal. As it turned out though, there were 16 overs left in the day rather than 15, which meant that India could have batted another over if they had to stick to the original plan.

Understandably, Tendulkar was angry at the decision. Milestones like a double century on foreign soil don't happen very often - even for someone as great as Tendulkar - and he felt he had been robbed of the chance to get there by a mistimed declaration.

To Tendulkar's credit, he didn't express his anger and merely spent a few minutes away from Dravid and the rest of the teammates. But the fact that he talked about the incident in such great detail shows how upset he was at the time.

Dravid's perspective was that the team needed to show intent, and that declaring the innings even with a batsman close to a milestone would have sent a strong signal to the Pakistan team. But Tendulkar and his fans didn't see it that way, and for weeks after the incident the debate about it kept raging on.

The aftermath

Both Dravid and Tendulkar are gentlemen, and in spite of this disagreement, they played with harmony for almost a decade more, scripting many memorable partnerships together. The two have moved on from the controversy and remain good friends; they continue to have the utmost respect for each other even today.

Also see - Live cricket score