The Hindu : Sport : Sarwan living up to potential

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Sport

Sport

Sarwan living up to potential

Special Correspondent

St. John's: The number three spot is pivotal in a batting order. Often, the best player walks in when the first wicket falls. Ramnaresh Sarwan has a compactness of technique and a lightness of foot that suits the position. If he could just sort his head out, he would have a shot at Test greatness.

The player of the one-day series with one century and two fifties — two of those three knocks were the defining moments of those matches — Sarwan will look to transfer the confidence to the four-Test series. For, the 25-year-old averages under 40 (39.89) in the long form, compared to nearly 47 in limited-overs cricket.

"I'm disappointed with my progress really," says the man who Ted Dexter predicted would end with a Test average of over 50. "I need to try and get some consistency into my game."

"At the end of my career, I want to be considered a great player. Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid — those are the guys I'd like to emulate." Lofty ambitions. What is the happy hooker doing to get there? "I'm always working on my batsmanship, always looking to improve my game. I've been practising with a tennis ball to try and get out of the way of short balls. I'm trying to get rid of it (hook) altogether. Something else I've been working on is not playing wide balls. I've nicked a few wide outside off, and I'm getting people to bowl wide balls so I can just let them go."

Sarwan did add a caveat about the hook shot — he said he sometimes plays it on instinct. He fell to the stroke in the fourth game. "Very disappointing, I said in the press conference I was not going to hook and I played it. But," and he almost winks, "I did say I sometimes go for it instinctively."

Fifty short of 4000 Test runs, the right-hander from Guyana says, "From a personal point of view, I'm feeling very confident about my batting. There are six others, but there is obviously a lot of responsibility on me."

In rhythm

Sarwan seems to raise his game when batting with Brian Lara. "I play off his rhythm," he says. "Brian rotates the strike very well and I really enjoy batting with him, as I'm sure he does with me."

What is the reason for the recent success of the islanders?

"We enjoy each other's company and cherish each other's performances. Brian's leadership has been exceptional. The planning we've had before the series was not something we've had before. Everyone is very open in team meetings."

He adds it took the team some time to get comfortable with its coaching staff. "It took us a while to settle. Australian culture is different from the culture in the Caribbean. We are getting used to each other."

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