India vs South Africa: 'Really special Test match for me', Rahul Dravid reminisces historic victory at Wanderers in 2006

Ahead of the highly anticipated Test series between South Africa and India, visiting head coach Rahul Dravid reminisced leading the Indian team to a historic victory in Johannesburg 17 years ago. India face South Africa in the first of two Tests at Centurion’s SuperSport Park starting Tuesday, with the second match taking place at Cape Town’s Newlands starting 3 January. The Rohit Sharma-led side will be aiming to finally conquer the ‘Final Frontier’ — beating the Proteas in a Test series in their own backyard — after more than 30 years of waiting. IND vs SA: What is India’s record in South Africa and how it compares to home Tests? India, incidentally, had not won a single Test on South African soil since they first toured the ‘Rainbow Nation’ in 1992-93. It was under Dravid’s leadership that they finally ended the winless run, beating South Africa by 123 runs in the first of three Tests at the Wanderers Stadium in the 2006-07 tour. For Dravid, who had succeeded Sourav Ganguly as captain during Greg Chappell’s reign as head coach, it was the bowling unit that played a central role in helping the Indians suprisingly go 1-0 up in the series. “Very exciting to be able to win that Test match. I had come here on many tours before and we had never been able to win. Just remember the quality of our bowling. It was a low-scoring Test match and the wicket was doing a lot. “Just the way our bowlers bowled was actually exceptional. I remember Sreesanth really swung that ball beautifully,” Dravid told broadcaster Star Sports in the build-up to the first Test. Pacer S Sreesanth was the pick of the Indian bowlers, leading the way with a haul of 5/40 as the Proteas were shot out for 84 in their first innings, conceding a huge 165-run lead to the Indians in the process. Sreesanth would not only collect another three wickets (3/59) later in the game to be adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ but would also be remembered for his on-field exchange with pacer Andre Nel and his subsequent six straight over the bowler’s head. Read | Beating SA in SA will be like winning World Cup, says Sreesanth “Big thanks to Rahul Dravid bhai. Rahul bhai, in fact, just before going into the field, he told me, ‘Sree you have been bowling really well, you’ve been in a very good rhythm. Win this match for us’. That really pushed the best out of me,” Sreesanth said on Star Sports.

Dravid also praised the batting department for collecting crucial runs in the low-scoring affair, and felt contributions from Ganguly and VVS Laxman helped India stay ahead of South Africa throughout the Test. Ganguly would remain unbeaten on 51 in the first innings while Laxman would top-score in the second with a patient 73. “And then we were able to get some runs on the board. Sourav got a pretty critical fifty and Laxman got some runs. It was just nice to be able to win that Test match, just unfortunate that we couldn’t go on to win the series. But it felt good, a lot of our tactics and strategies worked in that particular game, and we were able to execute really well. “Really sort of special Test match for me and the Wanderers has been a very special ground,” Dravid concluded. India, however, would go on to lose the next two Tests at Durban and Cape Town by 174 runs and five wickets respectively, resulting in the Graeme Smith-led Proteas taking the series 2-1. South Africa had earlier blanked the Men in Blue 4-0 in the five-match ODI series, only for the Indians to win the only T20I of that tour — which also happened to be their debut in the 20-over format.