'There are almost 4,000 tigers in the wild, but only one Rahul Dravid': Ross Taylor on spending time with India batting great

FPJ Web Desk Updated: Sunday, August 14, 2022, 07:16 PM IST
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid | Photo: BCCI/Twitter

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid | Photo: BCCI/Twitter

Former New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor gave an insight into his time spent with India batting great Rahul Dravid during his time playing in the IPL.

Recalling an incident in his autobiography, Ross Taylor: Black And White, the former Kiwi captain wrote about an outing with Dravid when they went to Ranthambore National Park to see a tiger, and how people were more interested in the cricket great rather than spotting a tiger.

"I asked Dravid, 'how many times have you seen a tiger?' He said, 'I've never seen a tiger. I've been on 21 of these expeditions and haven't seen a single one.' I thought, 'What? 21 safaris for zero sightings.' Seriously, if I'd known that, I wouldn't have gone. I would've said, "No thanks, I'll watch the Discovery channel. Jake Oram had been out in the morning - no joy. There was some baseball game on TV that he wanted to watch so he didn't come with us on the mid-afternoon safari. It wasn't long before our driver got a radio call from a colleague to say they'd found T-17, a famous, tagged tiger. Dravid was thrilled: 21 safaris without seeing as much as a tiger turd, but half an hour into number 22 he'd hit pay dirt," Taylor wrote, as reported by stuff.co.nz.

"We pulled up beside the other vehicles, open-top SUVs a bit bigger than Land Rovers. The tiger was on a rock, a good 100 metres away. We were stoked to see a tiger in the wild, but the people in the other vehicles immediately aimed their cameras at Rahul. They were as excited to see him as we were to see the tiger. Maybe more: across the globe there are almost 4000 tigers in the wild, but there's only one Rahul Dravid," he wrote further.

Taylor, who retired from international cricket this year, released his autobiography on Thursday.

Published on: Sunday, August 14, 2022, 07:16 PM IST

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