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Ramesh prepares
for the Australian tour |
| Chemplast Sanmar has been in the forefront
of cricket promotion for over three decades sponsoring cricket
teams participating in the Chennai league and tournaments all
over India. Not only has its best known team Jolly Rovers won
the league championship several times, it has also produced
many outstanding cricketers who represented Tamil Nadu in the
national championship. Some have gone on to represent India
in the international arena. |
| Sadagopan Ramesh, India’s 24-year old
left handed opening batsman is the most successful player to
wear Chemplast colours so far. He was barely 17 when he first
turned out for Chemplast in the local league. This cool, soft-spoken
young man has been tested by fire at the highest level and come
out in flying colours with two hundreds in Test cricket under
his belt in a career which is only seven Tests old. |
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| He faces his greatest challenge yet, on tour in
Australia with the Indian team, where he is up against a top class
attack on surfaces that aid fast bowling and test the best of batsmen. |
| Matrix interviewed Ramesh a few days before he boarded
the flight to Brisbane with the rest of the Indian team. Here are
a few excerpts of the interview: |
| When and where did you start playing cricket? |
| I played much of my early formal cricket at Santhome
High School, Chennai. Of course, like every other youngster, I played
a lot of cricket in the open spaces near our home at Alwar Tirunagar,
a distant suburb. My brother Satish and Mahesh are both good cricketers
– you know Mahesh is Tamil Nadu’s opening bowler –
and there were a whole lot of enthusiastic cricketers in the neighbourhood.
We formed quite an active gang of cricketers. |
| Did your parents encourage you to play the game? |
| Yes, quite a lot. My father, then working in Grindlays
Bank, keenly followed our cricket. My mother too takes an active interest
in my cricket – she anxiously enquires about the details of
my matches, not only about my own performance. |
| Didn’t you start out as an off spinner?
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| In fact, I started as a medium pace bowler
at the Under-13 level. But by the time I was selected for the
city Under-16 team I had switched to off spin bowling. I was
at that time studying at the Rama Krishna Mission School at
T’Nagar and I did not fancy my chances when I joined scores
of other boys at the selection trials. In fact, my name was
added in the very last moment to the short list of 38 probables! |
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| That was because one of the selectors, Mr. Krishnan,
was impressed by the way I batted in the nets, rather than my bowling.
He even told me, “I like your batting. I am going to fight for
your inclusion”. |
| The day the team was announced, I had gone to Chepauk
to watch a match and casually looked up the notice board which had
the list of players selected. To my surprise my name figured fourth
in the list! I literally ran to the Mount Road bus stop and took the
next bus home. I reported late that day for the nets and the coach
Selvakumar asked me how come I was late on the very first day. He
laughed when I told him I never expected to be selected. |
| I took four wickets in three overs in the second
of the City vs Districts matches that season which was otherwise unexciting
for me. |
| When did you start performing well at that level? |
| I had a very good season the very next year. Playing
for Tamil Nadu Under-16, I took wickets against every team and scored
70 and 50 against Hyderabad and Karnataka respectively. I took a big
step forward in the knockout stage when I made 35 not out in 16 balls
in the second innings against Gujarat. When I went in to bat, my side
which was chasing a target of 260 runs in 40 overs needed 62 in 8
overs. We won that match even though we had yielded a first innings
lead of over a hundred. It was around this time that I was beginning
to be taken seriously as a batsman. I was promoted to No.4 against
Punjab and I made 70. |
| How did you fare at the Under-19 level? |
| Not very well. I was rarely included in the eleven
as Tamil Nadu had a very strong line-up already established. The real
turning point came at the under-22 level. I had done well as an opener
in the one-day Indian Bank Trophy tournament and was selected to open
the innings for Tamil Nadu versus Kerala in the three day match at
Manjeri where I made 195, only to be dropped for the one-day match
that followed, because the eleven had been finalised at Chennai. In
the next season, I scored 60 and 110 against Karnataka Under-22 (plus
an 80- in the one-day match), following it up with 145 not out for
the senior City XI versus Districts at Tirunelveli. |
| Didn’t you follow with a hundred on your Ranji
Trophy debut? |
| Yes, I made 60 and 132 in the match against Hyderabad
at Chepauk. I also hit centuries on my debut for South Zone and India
’A’. |
| You must have come into the limelight with that
impressive debut for your state. |
| Not really. I had a fairly long wait, about three
years. During that period I played for Board President’s XI
against Australia and made 65 but I was not selected again for South
Zone, after getting 280 runs in my first two games for the zone. |
| When did the break come? |
| It came when I was not getting too many runs for
the State. I was picked for India Youth to play the touring West Indies
‘A’ and I made a fifty. A place in the India ‘A’
team followed and you know I made a hundred at Bangalore. |
| The West Indies ‘A’ pacemen must have
been the quickest you faced up to that stage. |
| Yes, Ian Bishop had slowed down but he bowled a
fiery spell in Bangalore when the tourists were desperately looking
for a wicket. In fact, the very first ball I faced in that match –
from Pedro Collins – hit me on my shoulder, a painful blow.
That made me both angry and determined to succeed. Reon King too bowled
well and fast. |
| How did you adjust to the extra pace? |
| After that first ball, it was not really that difficult
because I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket in my neighbourhood,
with the ball being chucked at me very fast from 17 or 18 yards. That
also explains my relative lack of footwork and the time I have to
play fast bowling. When a ball is aimed at you from such close quarters
there’s not much time for footwork but you also learn to bring
down your bat in time. |
| Won’t lack of footwork make you vulnerable
against the moving ball? |
| The Debashis Mohanty type of bowler should trouble
me more than others. Among Australian bowlers, Damien Fleming will
bear watching. |
| How are you preparing for the faster, bouncier wickets
of Australia? |
| I get the marker (groundsman) to chuck the ball
at me fast from 15 yards or so. I am concentrating on playing the
cut and pull, shots that will come in handy in Australia. I think
I am getting there. |
| Do you hook well? |
| I prefer to play the pull shot. When the ball bounces
head high I prefer to leave it, because of the risk of hooking it
in the air. |
| Your fielding seems to have come a long way since
your debut. |
| We see you diving and sliding and generally showing
great commitment. |
| I have worked very hard at my fielding and keeping
fit and healthy. During the World Cup, we had some great fielding
practice under Bobby Simpson’s supervision. Simpson has some
very innovative methods. |
| You must have been thrilled with your first hundred
in Test cricket at Colombo? |
| Yes and I was equally pleased with my recent hundred
against New Zealand. But I was bitterly disappointed with getting
out at 96 in Delhi against Pakistan. It was a soft dismissal off a
full toss after I had worked hard on a bad wicket. |
| You seem to bat well on turning tracks? |
| I think that’s because I play the ball late.
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| Who are the best bowlers you have faced? |
| Wasim Akram is a great bowler. He is always attacking,
has such variety. You can never relax against him. And for a 37-year
old, Courtney Walsh is still quick. A great bowler. Shane Warne is
a wonderful bowler, too, even if he poses less of a challenge to a
left hander like me. He has great variety too, incredible drift. Saqlain
Mushtaq poses quite a few problems but I was able to read his famed
wrong’un much to his own surprise. He asked me once how I did
it – he was worried. Of course, I didn’t tell him. |
| How will you cement your place in the Indian one-day
team? |
| By converting 30s and 40s into bigger scores whenever
I get a chance, maybe. |
| Who were the early influences in your cricket?
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| My brothers. They have always believed in
me. |
| Do you talk to fellow cricketers about your
game? |
| I talk to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid,
technically perfect batsmen, both. I watch Rahul closely in
the nets. Srinath also makes observations about my batting.
He bowls flat out in the nets to me, bowls bouncers. It all
helps. |
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| Ramesh with his parents Mr & Mrs Sadagopan
and brother Mahesh. |
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| Do you enjoy playing for Chemplast Sanmar? |
| Hugely. They have been a great help.
Vijay Sankar has been a friend since the time I played for Kohinoor
XI. We were a talented bunch of players and we could go to him for
any help. |
| How would you rate the Chemplast-IIT cricket ground?
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| It is one of the best in India. It is a green carpet
with even bounce on which you can dive and slide without fear of injury.
We have a range of wickets from a slow turner to a true, bouncy wicket.
The fast-paced one helped me practise facing quick bowlers in preparation
for the Australian tour. The English style pavilion adds to the ground’s
overall similarity to English greens. It’s a great ambience. |
| How would you describe your temperament? |
| I think I have a cool temperament. I don’t
overreact to success or failure. And I believe in destiny. |
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The think tank of the Chemplast cricket teams
– (L to R) Abdul Jabbar, Bharat Reddy, Vijay Sankar and
B Arun with V Ramnarayan, Editor, Kalamkriya, and former Ranji cricketer
(in the middle).
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| Other India players from Sanmar |
| The Sanmar group’s association with cricket
goes back a long way. Even before the formation of the Chemicals and
Plastics Ltd., the promoters, India Cements Limited were the foremost
patrons of the game in Tamil Nadu. Later, in the seventies and eighties
Sanmar intensified its involvement with the game, providing talented
players in the state a platform to launch their sporting careers.
A number of players from other states too sought and were given employment
by the group. While a few of them were selected to play for India,
many others played first class cricket. |
| Bharat Reddy who now manages the cricket team of
the group was a member of the squad which competed in the 1979 World
Cup in England, and also toured Australia with the Indian team. B Arun,
a fast medium bowler, also played for India. L Sivaramakrishnan the
leg spinner who starred in India’s triumphs in the World Championship
of cricket in Australia and the CBFS series in Sharjah, was a member
of the Chemplast Sanmar team when first selected to play for India.
India’s current all rounder Robin Singh, former Test batsmen
T E Srinivasan and V B Chandrasekar, and Test opening bowlers T A Sekar
and Harvinder Singh have all represented Chemplast teams as has Arshad
Ayub, the former Hyderabad and India off spinner. Sunil Valson, a
member of India’s World Cup winning team of 1983, too played
for Chemplast. Former India captain S Venkataraghavan – was
a member of the Jolly Rovers team which won the league championship
in the sixties. Sujith Somasundar who opens the innings for Jolly
Rovers in the TNCA league is another who played for India. Other Indian
cricketers to have turned out for the Chemplast team include Anil
Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Debashis Mohanty now touring Australia
as members of the Indian team. |
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