In a series where everything fell apart for India, a 38-year-old Rahul Dravid was the sole saving grace with his pristine touch with the bat against the England seamers. Even when India were whitewashed 4-0 in the 2011 tour to England, Dravid led the fight with three centuries, scoring a couple of tons even as a makeshift opener in the series. He even went on to make his T20I debut in the only match on tour and smacked three consecutive sixes in his solitary appearance for India in the shortest format.
While Alastair Cook’s England did not necessarily have readymade answers for Dravid’s bat, it appeared as though a series of bizarre decisions and the Indian legend’s brain-fade were to cost him in the second half of the tour. One of the most peculiar dismissals was his strange caught-behind dismissal of England’s star pacer in the third Test at Edgbaston, where England inflicted a heavy innings and 242-run defeat on the visitors after Cook’s 294 powered them to 710/7d in the first innings.
Attempting a stiff rearguard, India’s hopes were undone when Dravid thought he had nicked one to the wicket-keeper Matt Prior off Anderson’s bowling, only to realise his ‘brain-fade’ on the television screens when back in the dugout. In a happy present for the hosts, Dravid trudged back to the dugout without waiting for a DRS review after his long-time batting partner, Sachin Tendulkar, who was at the other end, also said he too heard a noise as the ball passed the bat.
Watch how Dravid’s shoelace had forced his dismissal at Edgbaston
Dravid 2011 Edgbaston moment for Kohli there…
Dravid hit the aglet of his shoelace and walked thinking he knicked it off Jimmy..
Both didn’t review..#INDvsBANTEST pic.twitter.com/UmLz7VvrSG— Rahul Kumar (@rahulk_1019) September 20, 2024
“My first instinct was that I had not hit it,” Dravid had told the Daily Telegraph then. “But there was a loud noise, and I couldn’t figure out where it had come from. I knew I hadn’t hit the ground, or my pad, or my shoe, so it confused me as to where the noise had come from. But I didn’t think I had touched it. So I asked my partner and he said there was a big noise. So I had Simon Taufel, one of the best umpires in the world, ruling me out, my partner saying it was out and I myself had heard the noise. I thought maybe it was just one of those instances where I hadn’t felt the edge.
To his dismay, the ball had struck the metallic aglet of his shoelaces as it zipped past the bat.
“As soon as I got back to the dressing room I told the guys I had to see the replay. I could never have imagined it was a shoelace.”
“It was disappointing because I’ve been batting well and if I had batted longer with Sachin, who played well in that innings, and if we had seen off Anderson’s spell before lunch, we could have at least put up a bigger fight,” remarked Dravid.
‘Confused’
“He (Dravid) came back in the dressing room confused after being given out. He was convinced that he hadn’t hit anything. From the replays it looked like his bat had touched the shoelaces at the same time when the ball went past the bat,” then-India skipper MS Dhoni said after the match.
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Dhoni said Dravid could have had a go at DRS. “It looked like he could have gone for DRS but it was such a situation that he got confused,” Dhoni said.
India were eventually rolled over for 244 in the second innings at Birmingham with Anderson claiming four wickets. Dravid would finish the Test series as India’s highest run-getter with 461 runs, including three tons. The defeat extended their winless streak at the ground to six matches since 1967. India have since went on to lose matches in 2018 and 2022 at the venue when England gunned down a record 378-run target. Shubman Gill’s Indian outfit will aim to quash the streak against Ben Stokes’ men in the ongoing Test at Edgbaston this week.
