“Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly’s hundreds at Taunton had an incredible impact on me,” says Jos Buttler

“Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly’s hundreds at Taunton had an incredible impact on me,” says Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler

England vice-captain Jos Buttler revealed that the stunning partnership that Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly put on in Taunton during the 1999 World Cup against Sri Lanka had a huge impact on his growing up. The masterclass of a partnership with both batsmen crossing 150 came in a winning cause as the Men in Blue posted a total of 373 on the board before bowling out Sri Lanka for 216 to seal victory.

Ganguly scored 183 runs from 158 balls and put on a 318-run partnership for the second wicket with Dravid who got 145 runs in 129 balls. The partnership showed no signs of being broken until Dravid was run out in the 46th over. However, the damage had been done by then and despite Ganguly holing out as well, India got to a huge score en route a famous victory thanks in large to the partnership.

Jos Buttler on the partnership between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid
Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid

Jos Buttler spoke to Cricbuzz about the knocks of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid and said, “Those were my formative years and watching that game with Ganguly and Dravid scoring big hundreds had an incredible impact.” He further said, “India versus Sri Lanka in 1999 World Cup was my first experience of seeing Indian crowds and that ignites the fire of how passionate people are about the game and how cool it would be to play in a World Cup.”

YouTube video
YouTube video

Till date, the partnership between Ganguly and Dravid is the fourth highest in ODI history. For a brief period of time, it was the highest before Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid himself broke the record by putting on 331 runs. That record stood till 2015 when Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels put on 372 against Zimbabwe in the World Cup, which is the highest at the moment. The second highest was also put on by the West Indians as Shai Hope and John Campbell notched up 365 runs against Ireland in 2019.

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