The majority of today's Indian cricketers were inspired by legendary figures such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, or Sourav Ganguly, who form India's renowned batting trio. In contrast, Nitish Rana's family embraced all three players, which sometimes led to disputes among them. The Rajasthan Royals batsman shared that he would often isolate himself in a room and weep if his preferred player was outperformed by one of the others. Raised in a family passionate about cricket, Rana, along with his father and brother, each supported the Indian team while favoring different players. Although Rana admired Ganguly as a left-handed batsman, he was less enthusiastic about the other two.

"My father was a devoted fan of Sachin Tendulkar, I admired Sourav Ganguly, and my brother was a supporter of Rahul Dravid. Consequently, whenever India played, conflicts were bound to arise in our household. One of us would inevitably feel upset or angry, as it was uncommon for all three to perform well simultaneously. During Rahul sir's peak career, my brother and I often clashed, while we could never voice our opinions to our father," Rana recounted on a FanCode podcast. 

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Instances such as, "Your player failed to score runs, but mine succeeded," would often frustrate me to the point of tears in my room, pondering, "How did Sourav Ganguly manage that?" I felt a strong need to impress my brother. In contrast, Rahul Dravid consistently scored centuries after century. These memories from my childhood are significant. My inaugural tour with the Indian team was alongside Rahul sir. Reflecting on this connection to my early years, it feels like a remarkable accomplishment—transitioning from competing with him as a child to playing under his guidance. These experiences hold a special place in my heart.

When Tendulkar, Dravid, and Ganguly scored 100s together for India

The timeframe that Rana refers to likely corresponds to Dravid's peak performance years from 2002 to 2004. During India's tour of England in 2002, Dravid achieved a remarkable feat by scoring three consecutive centuries, ultimately totaling four hundreds in succession after returning home to score another century against New Zealand. Following this, he traveled to Australia with the Indian squad, where he challenged Ricky Ponting's team fiercely, amassing 619 runs during the 2003/2004 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which included a standout score of 233 in Adelaide. A few months later, during the tour of Pakistan, Dravid recorded his highest Test score of 270 in Rawalpindi.

As Rana noted, instances of Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Dravid all performing exceptionally together were infrequent. However, there were numerous occasions when two of them excelled; for instance, Tendulkar formed 20 partnerships of 100 or more with Dravid in Test matches and 21 with Ganguly in One Day Internationals. The only match in which all three scored centuries occurred during the third Test between India and England at Headingley in 2002, where Tendulkar scored 193, Dravid made 148, and Ganguly contributed 128, leading India to a resounding victory by an innings and 46 runs.

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