India's out-of-favor cricketer Suresh Raina recently brought Rahul Dravid's captaincy into the limelight. Usually, we don't get to see cricket pundits discussing Dravid's leadership much although he was tactically fitting.
Raina has played under Dravid and he shared an incident from India vs Pakistan match in 2006. Recalling the fourth ODI at Multan, he narrated how Rahul made a sudden change in fielding position and it worked out on very next delivery.
The then India skipper had asked Raina to move to short-point after he sensed Kamran Akmal could play in that region and produce a chance for them.
“I remember the catch against Pakistan which I had taken at point. Rahul Dravid was our captain, Irfan Pathan was the bowler and Kamran Akmal was batting. There was a rule at that time to keep catching fielders in the 15 yards. So Rahul bhai asked me will you stand at the point? I said ‘yes please tell me where to stand’. He said lean forward and be ready to take a catch,” Raina told Kapil Dev in an interview for ABP News.
Rahul's move did wonders as Kamran handed over a catch straight to Raina at a short-point as he played an uppish cut shot.
“The moment Irfan delivered the next ball, Akmal smashed it hard, I just saw the ball and it came straight into my hands. The thing that impressed me most was that Rahul bhai knew it that a catch might come there and it came in the next delivery,” Raina said.
The catch is special for Raina and he told the reason: “The reason why I remember that catch is that captain, bowler, fielder everybody was involved. And it is a job of the fielder to always be ready for a catch."
India had won that match by 5 wickets. Raina scored 32 not-out and Dravid posted 59 runs on the board.
