#365DaysOfWriting — Day 270

The Legend of 270

270 happens to be Rahul Dravid’s best test score.

Oh there I go again with the numbers. I can’t help it though. Runs in my blood. This is a very important number, by the way. It was the final test of the ‘friendship series’ back in 2003–2004. A series delicately poised at 1–1. And it was at the home of Shoaib Akhtar — Rawalpindi. You could say the bowlers opened up the game, dismissing Pakistan for 224 in the first innings (which would have been worse if not for an enterprising innings by Mohammed Sami — remember him?).

Then Shoaib Akhtar got to work. Sehwag out first ball. Tendulkar caught behind for 1. VVS Laxman bowled for a well-made 71. 3 wickets — and then he went off, clutching his shoulder. There was a lot of controversy surrounding that — Pakistani conspiracy theorists even suggested he feigned the injury to avoid bowling — but I find that hard to believe. Akhtar was plagued with injuries throughout his career anyway. Meanwhile, Ganguly set about making 77, and our ‘keeper-batsman (no, not Dhoni) Parthiv Patel made 69. 71, 77 and 69 are contributions that would keep a team in the match if they’re chasing 224. Dravid alone crossed that score, and with his 270, compiled over 740 minutes (that’s half a day of batting), India took the game well beyond Pakistan. He eventually got out to Imran Farhat’s harmless leg-spin, attempting a reverse sweep (yes Dravid attempted a reverse sweep in a test match). It was the best of times, it was the weirdest of times. I’m almost tempted to call Imran Farhat, Pakistan’s Tamim Iqbal (that’s how far Bangladesh cricket has progressed since then).

Anyway, a spirited counter-attack from Asim Kamal, Yousuf Youhana and Shoaib Akhtar (yes, he batted) aside, Pakistan folded quite meekly for 245 in their second innings, giving India victory by an innings and 131 runs. In neither of their innings were they able to cross Dravid’s 270. And while this innings didn’t have the glam factor of VVS’ 281 or Sehwag’s 309, it was every bit as important — it gave India their first (and only) series victory over Pakistan in Pakistan. And given the current state of affairs in the world, it might remain the only series victory over Pakistan in Pakistan.

That is why 270 is such an important number.

Archives

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–31–32–33–34–35–36–37–38–39–40–41–42–43–44–45–46–47–48–49–50–51–52–53–54–55–56–57–58–59–60–61–62–63–64–65–66–67–68–69–70–71–72–73–74–75–76–77–78–79–80–81–82–83–84–85–86–87–88–89–90–91–92–93–94–95–96–97–98–99–100–101–102–103–104–105–106–107–108–109–110–111–112–113–114–115–116–117–118–119–120–121–122–123–124–125–126–127–128–129–130–131–132–133–134–135–136–137–138–139–140–141–142–143–144–145–146–147–148–149–150–151–152–153–154–155–156–157–158–159–160–161–162–163–164–165–166–167–168–169–170–171–172–173–174–175–176–177–178–179–180–181–182–183–184–185–186–187–188–189–190–191–192–193–194–195–196–197–198–199–200–201–202–203–204–205–206–207–208–209–210–211–212–213–214–215–216–217–218–219–220–221–222–223–224–225–226–227–228–229–230–231–232–233–234–235–236–237–238–239–240–241–242–243–244–245–246–247–248–249–250–251–252–253–254–255–256–257–258–259–260–261–262–263–264–265–266–267–268–269–270*