“Why is he doing that”: Rahul Dravid once wondered why Sachin Tendulkar didn’t play a single ball in nets during ICC World Cup 2003

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are two of the best batters the game of cricket has ever witnessed. Both of them played together in their prime years, and the Indian team was certainly lucky to have them both. During their playing days, fans used to make lot of comparisons between them.

Tendulkar was successful in winning the ICC World Cup in 2011, but the same was not the case with Dravid. Although the Indian team went very close to winning it in 2003, they lost to Australia in the final of the tournament. The Australian team was just too good on the day.

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Tendulkar was at his very best in the 2003 World Cup, where he was scoring runs for fun. He scored 673 runs in the tournament at 61.18 with the help of six half-centuries and a century. Ganguly was the second highest run-scorer of the tournament, and he scored just 465 runs, which shows the dominance of Tendulkar.

Rahul Dravid once wondered why Sachin Tendulkar didn’t play a single ball in nets during ICC World Cup 2003

Dravid once revealed that Tendulkar did not face a single ball in the nets during the ICC World Cup 2003. Dravid recalled that Tendulkar just practiced throw-downs throughout the tournament, and everyone in the team was wondering the reason behind the same.

In his response, Tendulkar revealed the reason Dravid saying that he was feeling really good with the bat and that’s why he didn’t want to get his feeling get affected by going into the nets. Albeit a bit strange for a world event, Tendulkar’s ploy worked well for him as he registered a memorable tournament.

“It [preparation] changes from time to time. In the 2003 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar didn’t bat a single ball in the nets, right through the tournament. He only got throw-downs. He just received hundreds of throw-downs through the whole tournament,” Dravid had said as quoted by The Economic Times.

“All of us were wondering ‘Why is he doing that?’ When I asked him, he said, ‘I am feeling good. I don’t want to go into the nets and waste the touch. I want to feel good about my batting. If I have that sort of feeling. I will score runs when I go in.’ And that’s what happened!”