Cricketers, over time, have revealed their idols and heroes whom they looked up to while growing up.
Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has been an inspiration for many. The current generation of cricketers all over the globe grew up watching him play and idolised him.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, England’s wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler revealed two Indian cricketers who inspired him to play cricket.
The fans who were expecting one of the names to be of Tendulkar’s were surprised to know that Master Blaster did not feature in Buttler’s list.
For Buttler, the inspiration to take up the sport came from the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.
“Those were my formative years and watching that game with Ganguly and Dravid scoring big hundreds had an incredible impact,” Buttler said.
Ganguly and Dravid are two greats to have ever played the game. Both have scored over 10,000 runs in One Day Internationals (ODI) for India and were the center of many match-winning partnerships.
Buttler recalled the partnership between Dravid and Ganguly in the 1999 World Cup against Sri Lanka in Taunton. The duo was involved in a 318-run stand for the second wicket. Ganguly scored his career-best 183, while Dravid ended up scoring 145 runs.
“Ind vs SL, Taunton, 1999 World Cup was my first experience of seeing Indian crowds and that ignites the fire of how passionate people are about the game and how cool it would be to play in a World Cup,” the English wicket-keeper stated.
Buttler plays for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise in the now-suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and is also the vice-captain of the team.
The 30-year-old is unlikely to feature in the upcoming New Zealand Test series, having returned home from India after the postponement of IPL 2021.
