It was on June 20, 1996 that Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, two of India’s best batsmen, made their Test debuts against England at the Home of Cricket — the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
While Ganguly went on to score a 100, Dravid was not so lucky and got out just 5 runs short of the landmark.
“He (Ganguly) batted at 3, I came in at 7 in that game. So I had a long time to watch him bat and bat very well actually. I did feel really nice for him that he got that hundred,” said Dravid in a video posted by the ICC on their Twitter handle.
“And from my side, it was like I also have a chance to make it count. So, when he got out I used it a little bit as a motivation and an inspiration,” he added.
Ganguly played a superb knock of 131 for which he consumed 301 deliveries. The stylish knock was studded with 20 boundaries. Dravid, meanwhile, faced 267 deliveries during his knock which consisted of 6 boundaries.
“I was too engrossed in my performance to be honest. When he (Dravid) came into bat, I was already at 70 odd,” recalled Ganguly.
“I remember my 100 scoring shot which was a cover drive through point and he was at the non-striker’s end. I finished the day at 131, I got out an hour after tea and he carried on,” he added.
“He came back the next morning and got 95. I was standing at the Lord’s balcony hoping that he would get a hundred.
“I have seen him play at the under 15s, then Ranji Trophy together. I had seen his debut at Eden Gardens and then seeing his debut at Lord’s. So, I watched his career closely. It would have been great had we both got hundreds that day,” added the current BCCI chief.
Ganguly, 47, played a total of 113 Tests and 311 ODIs for India in which he scored 7,212 and 11,363 runs respectively.
Dravid, on the other hand, represented India in 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I in which he scored 13288, 10899 and 31 runs respectively.