Rahul Dravid is the best I have ever competed against: Graeme Swann lauds ex-India captain

Former England cricketer Graeme Swann is widely recognised as one of the country's finest spinners of all-time. The cricketer made much impact in his 60-Test career as he was an integral member of several memorable Test wins in the 2010s for England. Even though he used to dictate his terms on opposition batsmen with ease more often than not, Graeme Swann recently revealed the name of a player who made him felt like an “11-year old” bowler.

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Graeme Swann lauds Rahul Dravid

During a podcast with Sky Sports, Graeme Swann described former India captain Rahul Dravid as the best batsmen he has ever seen or played against. He praised Rahul Dravid’s batting technique by saying that he was “unbelievable” who would “never get out in a county game”. He then recalled his experience of bowling to Rahul Dravid in Kent when the Indian batsman represented the English county side in 2000. Swann even went as ahead as saying that Dravid sometimes made him felt like he was an 11-year old bowler.

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Interestingly, Graeme Swann dismissed Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir in the very first over of his Test debut. He achieved the feat during England’s tour of India in 2008 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. By claiming the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, Swann became only the second bowler in Test history to take two wickets in the very first over of their career. When the off-spinner was asked to recall his first-over success against Rahul Dravid, Swann said that he trapped the Indian batsman in front of stumps through a “great ball”. He also admitted that Dravid usually “would not have” gotten out in that manner.

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IPL 2020 and India lockdown

Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season was recently postponed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) until further notice. The decision came in wake of the ongoing coronavirus crisis and India lockdown.

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