India batting great Rahul Dravid scored almost 24,000 runs over his 16-year international career, which spanned 164 Test matches, 344 ODIs, and one T20I.
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shaun Pollock, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Chaminda Vaas, Courtney Walsh, James Anderson, Stuart Board, and Makhaya Ntini were among the great bowlers Dravid faced and won many hard matches against during his playing days.
However, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin challenged him to pick the hardest bowler he has ever faced during a recent visit on Kutti Stories with Ash. He gave two names: Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and the legendary McGrath of Australia.
“As a fast bowler, it had to be Glenn McGrath. I thought McGrath was… I kind of played Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) at the back end of their careers. So it’s not kind of fair… People who played Wasim earlier say that he was in a different league, and I could imagine after seeing the videos, I can imagine… And even bowling at the back end of his career, he was damn good. But I played McGrath at his peak. He was a phenomenal bowler. He challenged my off stump more than anyone ever did. Just being able to go close to the stumps, get the bounce and just the level of fitness… He was able to come at you right through the whole day. I have played faster bowlers than him, but in terms of consistency and skill, he must be the toughest bowler I’ve faced,” Dravid said.
“As a spinner, Muralitharan was the best bowler that I played against. Great skill. He had the ability to spin the ball both ways. Especially when he came round the wicket and got the doosra away from you. So, he was someone who was never tired and bowled really long spells. He kept at you and kept at you… and he is just a phenomenal spinner,” he added.
Between 1993 and 2007, McGrath played 250 ODIs and 124 Test matches for Australia, dismissing 381 and 563 batsmen, respectively. In addition to being the most successful bowler in Test cricket, he is the player who has taken the most wickets for the six-time champions in One-Day Internationals. In contrast, Muralitharan removed 13 batters in T20Is, 534 in ODIs, and 800 in Test matches.
