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Back in the reckoning
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"I have a gut feeling that my comeback is happening," says Sadagopan Ramesh about his crucial century at Rajkot
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HE GOT one opportunity and he came up with a hundred. The left-hander got it right in the nick of time.
Sadagopan Ramesh is back in the hunt in a season where the great Indian search for a durable pair of Test openers continues.
"A knife was hanging over my neck before the innings, but I came through,'' says the 28-year old southpaw about his 110 for India `A' against the New Zealanders at Rajkot.
A tour game can cut both ways. Success enables the aspirants slice through the roadblocks, and a failure leaves them bleeding. No wonder Ramesh talks about the `knife'.
Ramesh opened the door of possibilities, even if a Test recall eluded him by a whisker. "The Rajkot hundred was crucial for me. It has revived my international career hopes. I have a gut feeling now that my comeback is happening. I do not know when, but I am certain, it will happen. I have a lot more to offer to Indian cricket," he says.
The Tamil Nadu batsman concedes there was considerable pressure on him to deliver. "This was a big game for me, a rare chance, and there were expectations. But I stayed focussed and relaxed, and reached the three-figure mark. Actually, I have always felt relaxed, and concentrated well when I played a big match."
With 1367 runs in 19 Tests at 37.97 (two hundreds, eight fifties), Ramesh possesses a reasonable record for an opener in a country where the members of this breed are a precious commodity. His footwork might have come under scrutiny, but then Ramesh's sound temperament and gift of timing often silenced his critics.
However, his decision to pull out of the South African tour of 2001 due to a back injury, triggered a sequence of events that eventually left him out in the cold, lack of runs in domestic cricket not helping Ramesh's cause either.
An India comeback is never easy, the path is littered with minefields, and the long haul back is a test of a cricketer's commitment. Ramesh was up against the wall. He managed to turn the corner in the climactic stages of the Ranji Trophy last season, with knocks of 82, 55 and 85 in the away campaigns against Delhi and Mumbai, in the semifinal and final.
And in Chennai's first division league, he was in his element for Globe Trotters with an effort of 307 not out at the expense of the SPIC attack gleaming. "I think a triple hundred is some achievement in any level of cricket and the first division league is competitive here."
Ironically, it was his partner at Rajkot, Akash Chopra, who edged him out of an India place. The two were involved in a 164-run association for the opening wicket, and though both were fighting for a slot, Ramesh affirms there was no sense of rivalry. "We never looked at it like a contest. We were just keen to string together a good stand," he says.
If his latest hundred is any evidence, Ramesh has worked on his footwork, and is attempting to play a lot straighter. There is some distance to travel yet though. From wilderness to centrestage...the Sadagopan Ramesh journey continues.
S. DINAKAR
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