×

Rahul Dravid is The Toughest Batsman I’ve Ever Bowled to: Varun Aaron

Aaron emerged onto the international scene as one of the quickest bowlers, capable of regularly bowling in the early 140 kmphs.

Varun Aaron considers batting legend Rahul Dravid as the toughest he has ever bowled to who left him extremely irritated.

Aaron emerged onto the international scene as one of the quickest bowlers, capable of regularly bowling in the early 140 kmphs. However, injuries hampered his progress as he has managed to play 9 Tests and as many ODIs since making his international debut in 2011.

“I would say Rahul Dravid is the toughest batsman I’ve ever bowled to,” Aaron told Ish Sodhi during a Rajasthan Royals podcast. “Every time I turned up to bowl to him in the nets, it felt like I was just bowling at 120kph. It’s just something that he does to you.”

“I have never bowled to a batsman who would lunge out to the max and play you as if you’ve just bowled a throw down to him. As a bowler that’s extremely irritating to bowl to somebody like him,” he added.

When Aaron made his debut the Indian team boasted of legends of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag among others.

For the right-arm pacer, stepping inside the team bus full of some of the all-time greatest cricketers was a surreal feeling.

“I think getting the Test cap for India is the highlight for any cricketer. No matter what one does after that, it is the highest point of his career,” Aaron said.

“If you ask any of the greats, they will all say the highlight for them was getting the Test cap for India. I feel there’s nothing better than that and that’s for everyone.

“I received my Test cap from Laxman. I was lucky enough to play with the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Viru back then, I mean it was surreal. The most striking moment for me was stepping onto the bus on the first day of practise and walking by all these guys, having watched them growing up as a kid, it was really special to be part of that bus.”

Reports have emerged that BCCI is planning to hold IPL in September-November window and Aaron feels said the cricketers and fans will be equally hungry to get back into action with almost no cricket for over two months now.

“I feel us as cricketers we really need the IPL this year. You know we’ve been sitting around so long with no action; everyone is really hungry and it’ll be really good to have some high-intensity IPL action,” the 30-year-old said.

“I think if the IPL happens this year it will be the best IPL ever, largely because everyone will be well-rested without a lot of the heavy international schedule behind them and they’re all going to be super hungry to do well. I also think the fans will be extremely hungry as well, they’ll probably be hungrier than us as they’ve not really been able to see any sporting activity for the past few months,” he added.

trending this week