Former West Indies pacer Tino Best has recalled an incident regarding India legend Rahul Dravid and lauded him for his "humble and sweet" nature. Talking about a 2005 match against India, Tino Best said that Rahul Dravid smacked him for three back to back boundaries but later after the much came up with words of encouragement for the pacer.
The 38-year-old, who played 25 Tests, 26 ODIs and 6 T20Is for West Indies, revealed that Rahul Dravid had praised his energy after the match and asked him to not stop after being hit for some boundaries. Best also mentioned about a kind gesture from former India Yuvraj Singh, mentioning that the southpaw once gifted a bat to him.
"The first time I played against India was in the Indian Oil Cup in 2005 and I bowled to Rahul Dravid and that was an experience, he hit me for three back to back fours. I remember after the game, we had a nice little discussion,” Best told SportsKeeda in an interview.
“He said, ‘Young man, I love your energy, keep charging in, just because you get hit for fours don’t stop.’ And I thought that was very humble and sweet of him. I’ve always had a lot of love for the Indian cricketers, Yuvraj gave me a bat once and I thought that was so cool of him,” the former fast bowler said.
Tino Best, played 2 Test matches against India in 2013 and took 2 wickets in them. Best also played in 5 ODIs against India and was successful in taking 5 wickets from them. The Barbados-born said that humble nature of Indian players was their standout characteristic. He said Indian cricketers show no arrogance despite a backing of 1.5 billion people every time they are on the field.
"From my experiences with the Indian cricketers, they were all really nice. Rahul Dravid and those guys were all nice and polite. They didn’t act like they had 1.5 billion people supporting them. Very humble people and that’s something I really admire. They never had any bad energy, bad vibe about them. They always show respect and love for the game," Tino Best added.
Tino Best had earlier praised the humility of Sachin Tendulkar as well and added that the crowd at Wankhede booed him in the legendary batsman's 200th and last Test match. Best had said that bowling to Tendulkar was the highlight of his career and he wanted to take his wicket to please his son.
"I hugged and thanked him for being so kind and said that I hope to bowl at him someday. Finally, when I got an opportunity to bowl at him in his final test I was like, Legend I am going to give my everything at you. I wanted to pick his wicket for my son but it didn’t happen. But, I remember the Wankhede crowd going “Tino Sucks, Tino sucks”..and I just loved that energy. So for me, that was the highlight of my career," Tino Best had stated.