Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was renowned for his brains involved in making effective captaincy decisions.
Out of favour Indian batsman, Suresh Raina, who is amongst the best fielders produced by the country, took a brilliant catch at short point during one of the ODI games, when India toured Pakistan back in 2006.
Now, Raina has spilled beans on the mastermind of Dravid, where the bowler, fielder and captain, all were involved in dismissing Pakistan batsman Kamran Akmal.
Irfan Pathan, who usually bowled tight lines inside the stumps, baited Akmal to smack a square drive by pushing the ball outside the off-stump.
As planned by Dravid, the ball raced off Akmal’s bat, and Raina was quick to pounce on the opportunity.
“I remember the catch against Pakistan which I had taken at point. Rahul Dravid was our captain, Irfan Pathan was the bowler and Kamran Akmal was batting. There was a rule at that time to keep catching fielders in the 15 yards. So Rahul bhai asked me will you stand at point? I said ‘yes please tell me where to stand’. He said lean forward and be ready to take a catch,” Raina told Kapil Dev in an interview for ABP News.
The reason why the ploy was special for Raina was that he went on to receive the catch on the very next delivery bowled by Pathan, as soon as Dravid planned it.
“The moment Irfan delivered the next ball, Akmal smashed it hard, I just saw the ball and it came straight into my hands. The thing that impressed me most was that Rahul bhai knew it that a catch might come there and it came in the next delivery,” he said.
“The reason why I remember that catch is that captain, bowler, fielder everybody was involved. And it is a job of the fielder to always be ready for a catch,” Raina concluded.
Captained by Dravid, the Indian team won the ODI series against Pakistan by a handsome margin of 4-1.
