Legendary former India cricketer and head coach Rahul Dravid has recalled an incident from his career, elaborating on a regret, stating that he wished he had gone against the advice of Sachin Tendulkar. In an interview with former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Dravid expressed that one regret he holds was to not use the DRS (Decision Review System) when he had once been given out during India’s disastrous tour of England in 2011. Even Tendulkar had advised Dravid to not use the DRS. However, replays later showed that Dravid indeed was not out.
“There was one time where I regretted not using the DRS. It was during that 2011 tour in England in the Edgbaston Test,” Dravid recalled, in the conversation with Ashwin.
“I drove Jimmy Anderson, and I heard a noise, like a ‘tuk’, but I didn’t feel anything on the bat. Sometimes as a batsman, you know it, you feel it. There was a loud noise, but I didn’t feel anything on the bat,” Dravid elaborated.
Dravid was given out caught behind by Australian umpire Simon Taufel, and after a conversation with Tendulkar at the other end, decided not to challenge the decision. Taufel is a five-time ‘ICC Umpire of the Year’ winner.
It ended up being the wrong call.
“There was a noise, and Simon Taufel was a respected and good umpire. You didn’t really challenge him too much when he gave you decisions. He gave me out, and I walked to Sachin and said that I didn’t feel anything,” Dravid recollected.
“Sachin said, ‘There was a big noise yaar Rahul, I am sure you smashed it.’ And I thought maybe yeah, it was one of those things because I heard the noise as well,” Dravid said.
Upon returning to the dressing room and seeing replays, Dravid found out that that ball had completely missed the bat, and that the noise had actually been caused due to the bat striking his shoelace.
Dravid was arguably India’s best performer in a series to forget for the team.
Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, India were thrashed 4-0 by hosts England, which would go on to be the first of two 4-0 Test series losses in a short time span.
Dravid struck three centuries in four Tests, scoring 461 runs, the third-highest of anyone in the series. He scored a massive 188 runs more than Tendulkar, who was India’s second-highest run-scorer in the series.