Watch: Former South Africa pacer apologizes to Rahul Dravid for 1997 incident
Rahul Dravid (Image Credit: Twitter)
Former South Africa pacer Allan Donald was one of the most feared bowlers when he played the game. He was nicknamed ‘White Lightening’ due to his sheer pace and ability to terrorize batter. Meanwhile, the former South Africa bowling coach had an altercation with Rahul Dravid in 1997. Apparently, India toured the rainbow nation for a two-match Test series and a Tri-Series involving Zimbabwe.
The Men In Blue and the Proteas qualified for the final scheduled to be played on February 12 that year. However, the game was washed during the home team’s innings and the game was shifted to a reserve day. For the unversed, reserve day used to mean that the game would restart and not continue as happened in the 2019 World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the then Hansie Cronje-led side batted first and amassed 278/8. In reply, despite losing the wicket of Saurav Ganguly early, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid decided to dominate the opposition’s bowling. Donald decided to have a go at Rahul, verbally to get his wicket. Years after this, the current Bangladesh bowling coach said that he wants to apologize for the incident.
“There was one ugly incident in Durban that I don’t wanna talk about. He (Rahul Dravid) and Sachin were smoking us to all parts. I overstepped the mark a little bit. I’ve just nothing but massive respect for Rahul. I would like to go out and sit with Rahul and say sorry to him again about what happened that day. I just had to do something silly that brought his wicket actually. But I still apologise for what I said that day. What a guy, what a great bloke. So Rahul, if you are listening. I would love to have a night out with you,” Donaldo said.
The India Head coach was watching the video and said “Absolutely, I look forward to it, especially if he is paying,” Dravid said with a laugh.
