When Rahul Dravid batted in the nets with football boots and kept slipping
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has shared a funny anecdote about Rahul Dravid from the 2005 ICC Super Series. The ex-India captain tried batting with football boots in the nets, but did not have a memorable experience.
The 2005 ICC Super Series was played between Australia and a World XI team, which consisted of players from other countries. The series featured three ODIs and one Test, with Australia winning all the matches.
In a video shared on the official Twitter account of cricket.com.au, Ponting narrated why the Australians decided to wear football boots while fielding and how Rahul Dravid misinterpreted their idea. The Aussie legend recalled:
“One funny story coming out of that Super Series - the outfield was quite wet and damp. And I had actually instructed all of our guys who weren’t bowling - the fielders - to go out and get football boots for fielding. Because, when we tried to change direction, our cricket spikes would literally just rip through the top and we would fall over and slip over.”
According to Ponting, wearing football boots would give them an advantage in the field, so they started practicing with it. However, Rahul Dravid thought it can be used while batting as well. Ponting further revealed:
“We trained in it for a couple of days leading up to the first game. A lot of the guys that were part of that other team had caught on to the fact that we were wearing those footy boots.
"I’ll never forget that ahead of the first game, we went down to the nets and Rahul Dravid was there, batting in footy boots. You can imagine what footy boots are like on a turf wicket.
"He was trying to put his foot down on that hard shiny surface and his foot was slipping (forward). He’d seen us and thought we might be batting in it as well. But, we just used those for fielding.”
How Rahul Dravid fared in the 2005 ICC Super Series
Rahul Dravid scored 0 and 23 in the only Test for the ICC World XI, led by former South African captain Graeme Smith. Australia dominated the Test and won the game by 210 runs.
Dravid had a poor run in the ODIs as well, amassing only 46 runs in three matches with his highest score being 26. Australia crushed the World XI in the three one-dayers by 93, 55 and 156 runs.