India's captain Rahul Dravid (right) and West Indies captain Brian Lara shake hands at the end of the second Test match in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia on June 14. - REUTERS
kington (cmc)
INDIA CAPTAIN RAHUL Dravid has been highly commended by his West Indies counterpart, Brian Lara, for his outstanding batting in the four-Test series which India won 1-0 after a 49-run triumph on Sunday.
Lara said he was particularly impressed with the way Dravid batted on a Sabina Park pitch which produced 693 runs while 40 wickets tumbled, including 26 on the first two days.
Dravid topscored with 81 and 68, occupying the crease for five hours and 40 minutes in the first innings and just over four-and-a-quarter hours in the second.
Lara, the world's leading run-scorer with an aggregate of 11,505, including 32 hundreds, at an average of 52.05, said Dravid's effort really stood out when one considers that the pitch was difficult for strokeplay.
COMMEND DRAVID'S BATTING
"You look at Dravid, he fought all the way, got to 60 odd and had an unplayable ball. I must commend his batting throughout this series. It was excellent," the West Indies captain said.
"He led by example and I spoke to him after his (second) innings and I don't think I have seen a better innings or two innings put together on such a surface. I think it was tremendous batting and he showed really why he is called 'The Wall'." Lara said.
The 33-year-old Dravid amassed 496 runs including one century and four fifties at an average of 82.68 during the series and was the only batsman in the series to score over 400 runs.
He also became the fastest batsman to record 9,000 runs in Tests as he moved to 9,049, including 23 hundreds, in 104 matches at the outstanding average of 58.75.
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