Young man, keep charging in: Tino Best recollects talk with 'humble' Rahul Dravid
West Indian fast bowler Tino Best recently opened up about his experiences as an international cricketer and in particular, the relationships he developed with Indian players.
In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket's Facebook page, Tino Best touched upon a variety of topics, with one of them being his friendly interactions with legendary Indian cricketers like Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh.
Tino Best recollected an incident where Dravid hit him for consecutive fours, but offered some friendly words of encouragement for the young quick after the game.
"The first time I played against India was in the Indian Oil Cup in 2005 and I bowled to Rahul Dravid and that was an experience, he hit me for three back to back fours. I remember after the game, we had a nice little discussion," Tino Best recollected.
"He said, 'Young man, I love your energy, keep charging in, just because you get hit for fours don't stop.' And I thought that was very humble and sweet of him. I've always had a lot of love for the Indian cricketers, Yuvraj gave me a bat once and I thought that was so cool of him," the former fast bowler said.
Humble, respectful, polite: Tino Best all praise for Indian cricketers
Tino Best showered praise on the Indian cricketers he played against, labelling them as 'nice and polite'.
"From my experiences with the Indian cricketers, they were all really nice. Rahul Dravid and those guys were all nice and polite. They didn't act like they had 1.5 billion people supporting them. Very humble people and that's something I really admire. They never had any bad energy, bad vibe about them. They always show respect and love for the game," Tino Best quipped.
Tino Best played 25 Tests and 26 ODIs for West Indies, picking up 57 and 34 wickets respectively. Apart from his never-say-die attitude and aggression, the Barbadian is also known for his incredible 95 against England at Edgbaston, which was the highest score by a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket at the time.