#5. Scoring Joint-Second Fastest Fifty for India in ODIs
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This superiority of Dravid over Sachin would stun a lot of people. In ODIs, the latter was clearly the better batsman. After all, he was the ‘Master Blaster’ while Dravid played the role of a solid middle-order batsman in the line-up whose job was to build the innings.
But there is one area where Dravid is well ahead of the man who scored 49 ODI centuries. It is the list of fastest ODI half-centuries. In a must-win game for India against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 2003 – part of a triangular series – Dravid came out to bat with India already set for a big score thanks to hundreds from both Sachin and Sehwag.
What he produced was a knock which no one ever expected him to play, or be even capable of playing. 'The Wall' smashed a half-century in just 22 balls – joint second-fastest for India in ODIs along with Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Interestingly, the record of fastest fifty for India in ODIs belongs to an even more improbable person – Ajit Agarkar.
This innings of Dravid was a spectacle. It was studded with 5 fours and 3 sixes. The crowning glory was a lofted cover drive for six – one of the most difficult and awesome strokes in cricket. Even Sachin – the ‘master blaster’ – didn’t play a knock like this.
It just goes to show that when he wanted to, ‘The Wall’ could come down like a ton of bricks on the bowlers.
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