Three lesser-known cricket facts and stories that will blow your mind

#2 Dravid's prediction spot-on

Rahul Dravid was selected to play for South Zone in the Inter-Zonal U-14 competition which was set to be held at Nagpur. Rahul Dravid and Fazal Khaleel, the two best friends, were having a pretty good tournament in the first few matches.

In those times, players representing all the zones had to remain in the same hotel and were instructed to stand in a queue for their evening snacks and dinner. One evening, all the players were standing in a line for Nagpur's famous orange juice.

Dravid and Fazal, who had a good match, were talking about their matches, standing in the queue. Even the other kids were seen talking about their individual performances in the tournament. Then, Dravid brought the topic of a weird-looking, long-haired boy standing ahead of them.

Dravid: Fazal, that short, weird looking, long-haired boy who is standing there, he will play international cricket within the next two years.

Fazal: What? Are you joking? How did you come to that conclusion?

Dravid: He is representing West Zone. Just yesterday, he scored a brilliant 200 against East Zone.

Fazal: Both me and you have scored 100s more than once in the tournament and so have many others. A 200 here does not mean one is fit to be an international material

Dravid: Just wait and watch, Fazal.

Fazal: OK, let's wait and watch.

Two years later when Dravid and Fazal were on a tour playing for Karnataka U-16, the selection of a small boy in the Indian squad for their tour to Pakistan got all the hype. The young boy was none other than the boy Dravid discussed about two years before. Dravid was really excited whereas Fazal couldn't believe his eyes.

That short, weird looking, long-haired boy was none other than Sachin Tendulkar.

(The story is based on the biography of Rahul Dravid, written by Vedam Jayshankar)