Former India captain Rahul Dravid had an incredible international career from 1996 to 2012. Dravid played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs, and a single T20I in his 16-year-long international career and amassed more than 24,000 runs across formats. During his playing days, he faced some of the best bowlers in the world, legends like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Muttiah Muralitharan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, and many more.
Recently, on the show Kutti Stories with Ash, hosted by Ravichandran Ashwin, Dravid was asked to name the toughest bowler he ever faced. After thinking for a moment, he picked two names: Australia’s Glenn McGrath and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.
“As a fast bowler, it had to be Glenn McGrath. I thought McGrath was… I kind of played Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) at the back end of their careers. So it’s not kind of fair… People who played Wasim earlier say that he was in a different league, and I could imagine after seeing the videos, I can imagine… And even bowling at the back end of his career, he was damn good. But I played McGrath at his peak. He was a phenomenal bowler. He challenged my off stump more than anyone ever did. Just being able to go close to the stumps, get the bounce and just the level of fitness… He was able to come at you right through the whole day. I have played faster bowlers than him, but in terms of consistency and skill, he must be the toughest bowler I’ve faced," Dravid said.
“As a spinner, Muralitharan was the best bowler that I played against. Great skill. He had the ability to spin the ball both ways. Especially when he came round the wicket and got the doosra away from you. So, he was someone who was never tired and bowled really long spells. He kept at you and kept at you… and he is just a phenomenal spinner," he added.
Glenn McGrath played 124 Tests and 250 ODIs for Australia from 1993 to 2007 and picked up 563 and 381 wickets, respectively. He is Australia's most successful pacer in the longest format of the game and also holds the record for taking the most wickets in ODIs for the six-time champions. On the other hand, Muralitharan dismissed 800 batters in Tests, 534 in ODIs and 13 in T20Is.