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The name of the great Indian hockey player Major Dhyan Chand is still taken among the great players of the country. People still remember many stories to his game. One such special story is of the meeting between him and the great Australian cricketer Don Bradman. Both of them met in Adelaide, Australia in the year 1935. At that time, Dhyan Chand was on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with the Indian hockey team, while Bradman had already made his mark in cricket.

Dhyan Chand was born on 29 August 1905. He was 29 years old in the year 1935. He was a part of India's gold medal winning hockey team in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. Don Bradman was 26 years old at that time and was counted among Australia's greatest cricket players. Both were far ahead in their respective sports, hence their meeting is considered a special moment in the world of sports.

Dhyanchand had a desire to meet Bradman

When the Indian hockey team reached Adelaide, Dhyanchand wanted to meet Don Bradman. The team's assistant manager Pankaj Gupta helped the two meet. After this, a program was organized in Adelaide Town Hall in honor of the Indian team in which Bradman also attended.

Both the players shook hands and met each other in the program. Bradman praised the Indian hockey team and said that Indian players are better than Australia in hockey and Australian players can learn from them.

On the same day, the Indian team faced South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Dhyan Chand later told that this was the first hockey match that Bradman had seen. India defeated South Australia 10-1 in the match. India was leading 7-0 till half time. Roop Singh scored 4 goals, Laurie Davidson scored 3, Peter Fernandes scored 1 and Dhyanchand scored 2 goals.

Dhyanchand scored 201 goals on the tour

The 1935 tour of Australia and New Zealand was a great one for the Indian hockey team. The team played a total of 48 matches and won all of them. India scored 584 goals in these matches while the opposing teams could score only 40 goals. Dhyanchand scored 201 goals in 43 matches. After his performance, Dhyanchand started being compared to Don Bradman in Australia. Pankad Gupta had said on this comparison that people call Dhyan Chand the Don Bradman of hockey but he would like to call Bradman the Dhyan Chand of cricket.

Another incident to their meeting is also quite famous. It is said that after watching Dhyanchand's game, Bradman compared him to scoring runs in cricket. Dhyan Chand wrote his autobiography 'Goal!' I had also mentioned my meeting with Bradman and described the picture taken with him as special.

After this, Dhyan Chand captained the Indian hockey team in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and India won the gold medal there too. Whereas Don Bradman made an average of 99.94 in Test cricket. Both were great players of different sports and their meeting in Adelaide in 1935 is still considered a memorable incident in sports history.