Ice Man to Mr Dependable | Rahul Dravid was the glue that held India batting together: Steve Waugh

Melbourne, January 5: During an illustrious career, Rahul Dravid had dished out several memorable knocks against Australia. The hundred at Eden Gardens in 2001, a match-winning double hundred at Adelaide in 2003-04, both with VVS Laxman at the other end, easily come to the mind. Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who saw those knocks from close quarters, said Dravid was the glue that held Indian batting together.

Waugh said Dravid's concentration made him the banker batsman in the line-up. "He was unflappable, fierce concentration, there was no point in trying to ruffle his feathers because you couldn't do it. He was the glue who held them all together and the one banker they had in the side," Waugh said in a video posted by Cricket Australia.

"I knew he was going to score runs, I knew he could occupy the crease and he could repel quality bowling which quality players can do. If he stepped up the gear he could play shots as good as any one, he was a world class player and equally hard to overcome as Tendulkar was," Waugh gushed.

Waugh said Dravid could raise his game as per the situation, and said the Kolkata Test in 2001 was a massive example where he Laxman shared a massive, match-winning alliance of 376.

"His concentration and defence were impregnable when he wants to be and he had that fierce competitive attitude too, the big games really excited him, that's when he played his best. Once he got in, it was so hard. Obviously, the most famous innings of Dravid is Kolkata win, he and Laxman batted all day. Pretty much turned the Test around. That was an unwinnable Test match. He was as important to the Indian side as was Sachin Tendulkar. Those guys formed the heart of what was probably India's best batting line-up."