Captain Coetzer won’t be in awe of Indian superstars

ToSSING the coin with Virat Kohli before today’s T20 World Cup match won’t be Kyle Coetzer’s first brush with Indian cricket royalty. The Scotland captain was just a teenager starting out in his Saltires career when he was sent into bat with Rahul Dravid in a game against Northants back in 2003. Cricket Scotland had somehow persuaded one of the best batters in the world to join them for the summer to help them through their National League campaign and to assist some of the youngsters coming through like Coetzer. The pair would later be reunited as part of the ICC’s Cricket Committee but that early encounter didn’t quite go to plan, with the youngster run out for a duck as the senior man stood his ground. Dravid will become India’s head coach after the World Cup and Coetzer revealed he reminded him recently of that moment, although given the man known as The Wall went on to make a century, Coetzer couldn’t complain too much. He recalled: ‘It’s a period I remember well. And I did remind Rahul recently that in one of my first ever games for Scotland against a county side, we were involved in a run out. And I was the person run out and he wasn’t! I remember I got a clear ‘no!’ and was sent back [but didn’t make it]. ‘I think that was fair enough given he was the mainstay of the Scotland team then and we had to make sure he performed well. He was always a very humble and very respectful person. He spoke so highly and so well to all the players.’ Coetzer will face India for the first time in his career today as Scotland look for that elusive first win in the Super 12 stage after losses to Afghanistan, Namibia and New Zealand. They will do so without fast bowler Josh Davey, who has had to fly home due to a groin injury and has been replaced in the squad by Michael Jones. Coetzer added: ‘It’s a formidable challenge coming up against a strong India team full of exciting players. We’ve got to push that to one side and try to take on the challenges in front of us.’ Play starts: 2pm in Dubai. TV: LIVE on Sky Sports.