BENGALURU : Former Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid rated Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan and Aussie speedster Glenn Mcgrath to be the toughest bowlers he have faced in his career . “As far as fast bowler is concerned, Glenn McGrath was the toughest I have faced, I have played him at the peak of his career and he was truly a great bowler. When he was bowling well it was very difficult to judge your off stump,” the 42-year-old Dravid said during an interaction with fans on the social networking site ‘Facebook’. Dravid felt Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner Muralitharan was the toughest to counter when it came to slow bowlers.
“Spinners…Muttiah Muralitharan was the best I have played against. Murali was an extremely skillful bowler, he could spin the ball both ways, not by little bit but by a long way. It was very difficult to pick and read. He had great consistency and control,” Dravid said.
Dravid rated the series win against Pakistan in 2004 to be his best moment .
“Best moment in dressing room was winning the Test series in Pakistan, winning the Test in Australia at Adelaide (in 2003-04). It’s always a great feeling to win a Test or a Test series because the boys work so hard for five days, for the whole series to achieve their goal.”
Dravid lavished praise on current India opener Murali Vijay for his good run with bat in recent times.
“I really think Vijay has improved technically as a batsman, a lot over the last couple of years, from the first he came into the team. When he first came into the team there were times when he would get stuck at the crease but lately, over the last couple of years, his technique has been superb.
“His judgement of length and line has been quite exceptional. His performance in very difficult wickets in England and Australia and in some of the turning tracks here has been fantastic.”
Dravid hoped that the combination of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane could better the feat achieved by him and Anil Kumble in close-in catchings.
Ashwin, Rahane and Sehwag also took this opportunity to ask questions to Dravid, who is currently the India ‘A’ and Under-19 coach. In his interaction with the fans, Dravid revealed that he had lost his cool many times in private but not in public. “Not often in public but a lot in private,” was the right-hander’s reply when asked about losing patience. Sehwag, who recently retired from international cricket, asked Dravid how top players could contribute to the betterment of Indian cricket. “How top Indian players can contribute for the betterment of cricket in India?,” he queried. Dravid replied, “I think you have done a great job by playing the Ranji season. No better way to contribute.”
On being asked what is his most memorable knock , he rated the innings he played along with Sourav in Taunton during 99 World Cup to be the best .