Tino Best, the former West Indies fast bowler, was effusive in praise of the Indian players he came up against, especially ex-captain and batting great, Rahul Dravid, saying they all were so humble and supporting off the field despite the huge popularity and fanfare they enjoyed.
Tino, who played 25 Tests and 26 ODIs for the West Indies, spoke about his experience of playing against India and interactions with Indian players during an interview with Sportskeeda.
"From my experiences with the Indian cricketers, they were all really nice. Rahul Dravid and those guys were all nice and polite," he said.
"They didn't act like they had 1.5 billion people supporting them. Very humble people and that's something I really admire. They never had any bad energy, bad vibe about them. They always show respect and love for the game," Tino added.
Tino recalled a conversation he had with Dravid after one of the games during a tri-series in Sri Lanka in 2005.
"The first time I played against India was in the Indian Oil Cup in 2005 and I bowled to Rahul Dravid, and that was an experience. He hit me for three back-to-back fours. I remember (that) after the game we had a nice little discussion."
"He said, 'Young man, I love your energy, keep charging in. Just because you get hit for fours, don't stop.' And I thought that was very humble and sweet of him."
"I've always had a lot of love for the Indian cricketers, Yuvraj (Singh) gave me a bat once and I thought that was so cool of him," added the 38-year-old from Barbados.
