SK Tales: Reliving Rahul Dravid’s three consecutive sixes on T20I debut
Former India captain Rahul Dravid played only one T20I during his international career, against England in Manchester in August 2011.
While England won the match by six wickets, the game was famous for Rahul Dravid hitting three consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Samit Patel. The batsman was on 10 from 14 at the end of 10 overs.
Patel came in to bowl the 11th over and Rahul Dravid, uncharacteristically, clobbered the last three balls of the over for sixes. He was dismissed in the next over for 31 from 21.
Looking back at the innings, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar recalled in SK Tales:
“Rahul Dravid was batting on 10 off 14 balls. So, the pressure was building up. Then, suddenly the left-arm spinner Samit Patel came in to bowl and Rahul Dravid hit him for three consecutive sixes. He suddenly jumped to 31 off 19 balls and he finished that innings on 31 from 21 balls.”
Revealing that he is a good friend of Rahul Dravid, Manjrekar added:
“I was his room partner on his first tour to England in 1996. We were in and the kit bags were out as the rooms in England are very small. I met up with Rahul Dravid a few days after that T20 match. And I said - well done the T20 batsman. And he said yes, what an innings that was.”
What Rahul Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar about hitting big shots
Since both Rahul Dravid and Manjrekar were defensive batsmen, they found taking on the bowling something which was outside their comfort zone.
Opening up about a discussion they had over the difficulties they faced while trying to be aggressive, Manjrekar stated:
“We started talking about how it is for defensive batsmen to play like that. I told him that when I had to play big shots, I used to get a little bit of palpitation. My heart would start racing that next ball I have to hit a big one."
“Rahul replied that 'when I was playing and when I felt that the time had come to hit a six, I used to plan three overs in advance',” Manjrekar further revealed.
Rahul Dravid featured in 164 Tests and 344 ODIs for India, amassing 13288 and 10889 runs respectively. He scored 36 hundreds in Tests and 12 in one-dayers.