Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fast-bowler Sohail Tanvir, during an interview on the YouTube show Cric Cast on Thursday, opened up about his dismissal of India’s legendary batsman Rahul Dravid on his Test debut. The 35-year-old believed that his dismissal was similar to the way Pakistan’s legendary former pacer Wasim Akram had dismissed Dravid in the past. “The way I got Dravid out, I would still say that was the ball of my life. I remember Wasim [Akram] bhai got Dravid out the same way, with the same line and length, out-swinging from leg-stump to take the off-stump. That was a dream ball for me,” Tanvir said.

The pacer stated that bowling against the legendary Indian batsmen on their home soil was an exciting experience. “Bowling against the greats like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman and Ganguly especially in India was remarkable. These are the guys that have made thousands of runs in Test cricket. They have so many achievements. Especially if you talk about Rahul Dravid, he was called the wall. Breaking through his defense was very hard, being a youngster and especially it being a surprise call since I wasn’t prepared for the Test side at the time,” he said.

“My self-belief and confidence has helped me throughout my career. I bowled really well in the first Test. I took three back-to-back wickets. I got Ganguly, Dravid and Harbhajan Singh out. I got our side back into that Test,” he added. Tanvir claimed that he could not get many chances in red-ball cricket despite performing well in the format. “Unfortunately my Test career ended there. That was very unfortunate. Even when I think about it today, I think I could have played a lot more Tests for Pakistan. People call me a T20 specialist and white-ball cricketer but nobody knows about my strengths. They don’t know what I am capable of with the red-ball. If you look at my stats or ask people I have played against, you can get an idea. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get many chances,” he concluded. Tanvir has represented Pakistan in two Tests, 62 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 57 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) while picking up 5 wickets, 71 wickets and 54 wickets in each format, respectively.