Rahul Dravid features in Muttiah Muralitharan’s list of great batters who could not find a way to read him.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, the Sri Lankan legend said while several Indian batters, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir, read his bowling, current India head coach Dravid did not.
“He (Tendulkar) read me very well. Not many people can do (that). (Brian) Lara had success, but he never hit me either,” Muralitharan said during the trailer launch of his biopic titled ‘800’.
“I know a few people, like Rahul Dravid; he is one of the greatest players, but he never read me. Sachin (Sehwag) and Gambhir would read. Even in my team, some people read and some did not.”
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The legendary Tendulkar, who was present on the occasion, recalled his first meeting with the spin wizard. “I remember meeting him for the first time in 1992-93, and we have continued to be good friends.
“He just loved bowling and the whole world knew he had a big turner. You make him bowl on an expressway and he would turn the ball. No matter how the surface is.
“He had developed the ‘doosra’ but spent a lot of time practising it in the nets. For 18 months, he continued practising the ‘doosra’ in the nets before he bowled the first ball in international cricket. The reason for that was that he should not lose his original strengths and the qualities that he possessed,” Tendulkar added.
Muralitharan returned the compliment.
“What he (Sachin) has done in cricket, nobody can do. It is a fact. It is impossible for someone to get into First Class cricket at 15 years, getting a Test hundred at 16-17 years (of age). Another Sachin Tendulkar won’t be born in my life (time),” Muralitharan added.
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