Jos-Buttler credits Ganguly-Dravid partnership in 1999 World Cup as an inspiration

Growing up in the 90s, the 1999 World cup is synonymous with two huge headlines, the sad demise of Sachin Tendulkar’s father and the Ganguly-Dravid partnership against Sri Lanka. However, the mammoth partnership was not just awe-inspiring for Indians, but apparently to the English Wicket-keeper and swashbuckling batsman, Jos Buttler too.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Buttler revealed that the knocks of Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had a huge impact on him during his “formative years”. “Those were my formative years and watching that game with Ganguly and Dravid scoring big hundreds had an incredible impact,” he said.

Team India enjoys massive support wherever they go, and the 1999 World Cup in England was no different. “India versus Sri Lanka in 1999 World Cup was my first experience of seeing Indian crowds and that ignites the fire of how passionate people are about the game and how cool it would be to play in a World Cup,” said Buttler of the crowd on the day in Taunton.

In a pre-T20 era, when scores of 260 were considered to be winning totals, the partnership between Ganguly and Dravid took India to a massive 373/6 which was at the time the highest team score in a world cup match, and the second-highest overall in ODI cricket. The 318-run stand between the two legends of Indian cricket is till date the highest partnership in ODI cricket to be witnessed on English shores. Saurav Ganguly’s 183 was at the time the highest score in ODI cricket by an Indian batsman.

[The scroll inputs]