What is Sourav Ganguly’s highest score in ODI’s?
→ 183. Many of you know the answer.
What was the speciality of that innings?
→ It came in a World Cup against the defending champions Sri Lanka. Quite a few got that correct.
Ganguly’s 183 and the above image remains iconic to most of the Indians. That was a special innings which probably can never be erased off an Indian cricket fan’s memories.
No. That isn’t an underrated knock my friends. We are going to discuss the innings of Rahul Dravid, his partner at the other end that day who was playing the anchor’s role while Ganguly was spitting fire from his side.
Put to bat first, India lost its opener S Ramesh in the first over itself. The loss of this wicket brought in Rahul Dravid to bat and he along with Ganguly scripted the famous Taunton Rampage.
In the early stages of his career, Rahul Dravid was criticised of playing too slow in limited over cricket and was labelled a misfit in the ODI side. But in Taunton, on that day, Dravid shut the mouths of all the critics.
It was a pretty usual start for him, cautious and careful. After the 5th over, he started the carnage. He drove the bowler Wickramasinghe for three consecutive boundaries signalling his motive. He was in no mood for a slow game.
By the end of 10th over, Dravid was standing at 38 runs in 25 balls. The opponent captain, Ranatunga then started shuffling the pacers. But the Dravid-Ganguly pair were troubling them. He then brought in Muralitharan too. But breaking the wall was just becoming too difficult. A clueless Ranatunga brought in Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Aravinda de Silva to break the partnership, but it was of no use.
By the end of 30 overs, India were at 172–1 with Dravid on 89 and Ganguly on 71. Yes, at this point Dravid was the higher scorer among the two. In the 35th over, he raced to a ton in just 102 balls. Quite unlikely of Dravid, people were thinking.
Ganguly too, reached his hundred in 119 balls. Ganguly had just began his carnage now. The sixes were raining effortlessly. Sensing that his partner was at his aggressive best, Dravid starting taking singles and giving the strike to him.
He quietly allowed Dada to race past his score. Ganguly quickly reached the 150 mark, while Dravid was happy supporting his partner. Apologies for the bad image, but Dravid was all smiles when Ganguly lifted his bat to signal the 150 mark.
Because of an unfortunate run out, he returned back to the pavilion at a score of 145 in 129 balls only.
That was an innings filled with superb shots, scintillating grace and a silent sacrifice. Hadn’t Dravid taken the anchor’s role that day, it might have become difficult for Ganguly to record his highest score 183 which would never be forgotten by an Indian cricket fan.
This partnership was also the highest that time, recording 318 runs in 269 balls.
That innings also broke the myth of Dravid being only a Test batsman. Yes, he was capable of an occasional onslaught.