Former India skipper Rahul Dravid shares a special bond with Vijayawada for it was here he played his first away match as an under-15 cricketer in the early 80s.
Interacting with the young cricketers of the Andhra Cricket Association here, he said after learning the basics of the game at Bengaluru it was Vijayawada which provided him the first exposure of playing in an alien condition in 1985.
“We played the match at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium and we were housed at Dandamudi Rajagopala Rao Indoor Stadium where I stayed in a dormitory with six to seven boys,” recollected The Wall.
Incidentally, it was at Vijayawada, Dravid faced a peculiar situation when an English newspaper, while reporting the tournament, mentioned Rahul Dravid as ‘Rahul David’ forcing him to seek the help of a senior ACA administrator to alert the reporter about the goof-up.
Mr. Dependable said the Andhra team was not taken seriously those days as it had few good players. “Once we removed opener Amit Pathak and M.S.K. Prasad we had them (Andhra team) on the mat. But now Andhra teams in all age groups are formative and competitive. They are winning big tournaments and players are also scoring big runs and taking wickets,” he said.
He appreciated ACA for spending the BCCI funds in a rightful manner by setting up academies for men and women and playfields in all the districts.
