'I dismissed Rahul Dravid with the ball of my life,' says Sohail Tanvir
Former Pakistan left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir has termed his dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the Delhi Test match of 2007 as the 'ball of his life'. He also expressed regret at not having represented Pakistan for a longer duration in Test match cricket.
Sohail Tanvir reflected on his limited Test career in a YouTube show called 'Cric Cast'.
The unorthodox pace bowler remembered his Test debut, an opportunity he got due to an injury to Umar Gul.
"Initially I wasn't part of the squad. I was part of the ODI team, T20s were not there at time. I performed really well in ODIs. Umar Gul got injured accidently, I don't remember what injury he had."
Sohail Tanvir reminisced about the outstanding delivery he bowled to castle Rahul Dravid, a ball he mentioned was similar to a delivery bowled by the great Wasim Akram to the India Number 3.
"The way I got Dravid out, I still say it was the ball of my life. I remember Wasim bhai dismissing Dravid in a similar manner. It was the same length and line delivery. It pitched outside leg stump and rattled the off-stump. And the same happened with my delivery. That was a dream ball for me."
Sohail Tanvir expressed happiness at having got the opportunity to play against the greats like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. He was particularly delighted at having breached the defence of 'The Wall', the sobriquet given to Rahul Dravid.
"Bowling against greats like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman and Ganguly and that too in India was special. They are people who have scored thousands of runs against the red ball, they have so many achievements. Specially if you talk about Rahul Dravid, he was called the Wall and breaching his defence was very difficult."
Sohail Tanvir added that although it was a surprise call-up for him, his self-belief and confidence helped him perform well. He recollected having dismissed Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh apart from Dravid in that match.
"Being a youngster and that too a surprise call, I wasn't prepared to be honest at that time to play the test match as my name was not there initially. But I will repeat that my self-belief and confidence helped me throughout my career. There also in the first Test, I bowled really well. I guess I dismissed 3 batsmen on the trot - Ganguly, Dravid and then I think Harbhajan Singh. I brought Pakistan team back into that Test."
Sohail Tanvir on his short Test career
Sohail Tanvir expressed disappointment at not having a longer Test career. He mentioned that he was labelled as a white-ball specialist without people having seen his performances with the red ball.
"Unfortunately, my Test career ended there. Even now when I sit and think, I feel I could have played lot more Test cricket for Pakistan. People call me T20 specialist or white-ball cricketer, but nobody knew about my strengths, what I delivered or what I was capable of with the red ball. If you see my stats or you ask people who played against me with red ball, then you would get an idea."
He talked about the Pakistan team's tour to New Zealand where he performed well in one of the preparatory matches, but still did not get a chance in the Test matches that followed.
"Unfortunately, I could not get that many chances. After that I was a part of the squad for a couple of series. I went to New Zealand and played a side match. I got 4 wickets against their President's XI, all their main players were playing in that match. That was my comeback after surgery."
Sohail Tanvir played just 2 Test matches for Pakistan, both against India. He picked up three wickets in the first innings of the 1st Test match of Pakistan's tour to India in 2007, played at the Kotla. But he went wicket-less in the second innings.
In the 2nd Test match of the same tour played at the Eden Gardens, Sohail Tanvir picked up 2 wickets- Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer being his victims.
Although Sohail Tanvir did not play any further Tests, he represented Pakistan in 62 ODIs and 57 T20Is. While he picked up a total of 71 wickets in the ODIs, he has 54 scalps in the T20I format.
Sohail Tanvir also played a pivotal role in Rajasthan Royals' win in the inaugural season of the IPL. Apart from being the highest wicket-taker that season with 22 wickets to his name, he also scored the winning runs in the 2008 IPL final.