Rahul Dravid predicted himself to score big before slamming 270 against Pakistan
The 2003/04 India's tour of Pakistan was a great tour of visitors in terms of personal achievements, as it witnessed Virender Sehwag becoming first Indian to score a triple ton, Irfan Pathan scalping the first-over hat-trick and Rahul Dravid slamming his highest Test score. Team India registered 2-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the three-match Test series, which marked the resumption of cricketing ties between the neighbouring countries.
The series was tied 1-1 after first two Tests and the series decider in Rawalpindi witnessed a masterclass from Rahul Dravid. Before the third Test, Dravid was going through a rough patch with strings of low scores 6, 33 and 0 in the series. The pressure was mounted on him and The Wall stood strong in Rawalpindi.
Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bowl first and Laxmipathy Balaji with his skilful bowling picked four wickets restricted Pakistan for 224 on Day 1. India lost in-form opener Sehwag early courtesy, Shoaib Akhtar. Dravid scored 15 at the end of Day 1 and went to score his highest individual score of 270. India went on to win the match by an innings and 131 runs to clinch series 2-1.
Recently, Dravid revealed that he predicted after Day 1's game that he is going to score big in the Test match.
“I remember being 15 or something at the close of play on Day 1. I had just gone down to have dinner with a few people that night and just happened to be sitting, a few journalists were around as well. I just felt really good about my batting at that stage, I felt that I’ve batted well for the 15 runs, I felt I had batted well in the series with no significant score,” Dravid said in an interview aired on Star Sports.
“So As I was leaving, I sort of made this off the cup remark, didn’t really mean it that much. But I said, ‘look if I get set tomorrow and bat for an hour, you know you’re gonna see a big one from me. And so it happened, I went on to score 270 so people came and said, ‘how did you know’ and all that,” Dravid said.
