The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : `Dravid's was a great wicket'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

Sport

Sport - Cricket

`Dravid's was a great wicket'

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, FEB. 22. Even as the spotlight was on the big guns such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman and Anil Kumble in the four-day Duleep Trophy match between West Zone and South Zone at the Visakha International Stadium in Uppal here, it was the unobtrusive off-spinner Romesh Pawar who hogged the headlines with a stunning performance with the ball.

Pawar, who claimed a career-best seven-wicket haul on the first day of the match, shook South Zone's formidable line-up with a teasing line and length. "It is a great feeling to take seven wickets in a Duleep Trophy match," said Pawar.

Pawar said the prize wicket of South Zone captain Rahul Dravid gave him immense satisfaction. Dravid went for the slog only to hole out in the deep very early in his innings. "I never expected him to play that stroke. But, definitely it was a great wicket for me," he said. The West Zone off-spinner pointed out that the pitch was not as bad as the dismal outing of South Zone batsmen would suggest. "It should last the full four days. I enjoyed bowling on it," he said.

Gloster settles in

Indian team's physiotherapist John Gloster, who made a distinction today between match fitness and fitness in the nets, was as glad as Pawar to do his work away from all the attention. "It is not just Sachin Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan who will be under scrutiny but all the other Indian players on view in the on-going Duleep Trophy match," Gloster told `The Hindu' in an exclusive chat.

"It would be unfair to say that we are all here just because of Tendulkar," said Gloster, who also made it clear that he was pleased with Tendulkar's progress over the last 10 days. "Right now we cannot say whether he is ready for the series against Pakistan. We will be monitoring his progress in the match too along with others. We are working on some instructions from the Australian experts in the case of Tendulkar and he is responding to them well."

Commenting on his job, Gloster asserted that he was ready for the big challenge ahead. "It is a demanding task to be the physio of the Indian cricket team. But, what really impressed me is the dressing room atmosphere. They are all very positive," said Gloster, who joined the Indians after a four-year stint with Bangladesh.

"Overall fitness of the Indian team is really good," said Gloster, who stated that his predecessor Leipus has made his work easier. "It will be unfair to compare the methods adopted here with those in Australia. Every player has a different training schedule to ensure peak fitness level and the whole effort would be to ensure that the Indians will be in the right frame of mind when they take on the Pakistanis," he said.

There is some good news from the physio about Irfan Pathan. "He seems to have recovered remarkably well and whatever little we saw of him today was very satisfying," said Gloster.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport