Re: Gavaskar in brilliant form..........

>Gavaskar 's 173 contained 12 boundaries only! aka 125 runs taken in
>running off
>290 ball... good strike rate for a "Test"....
>Further more, he accelarated with Ratra and then allowed Powar his
>lead....
>
>Gambhir frittered away chance for a vry big score but Rohan took it...
>
>On the day, Rohan scored 147 runs in 4 hours in 225 odd balls....
>Granted lanka A attack is no great shakes but they just had a good
>springbok tour (are we still allowed to call them that?)..
>

That's a heck of an innings from Rohan, for the first time a bit like his
father :-) He probably knows this is a good time to make a concerted push,
because there might well be a spot or two available for an ODI/test with India
sometime - and, after all, even a couple of national opportunities is what
everyone is playing for.

The Hindu said of him:
--------
The first shot Rohan Gavaskar swung in the air in over seven hours resulted in
a first chance that rested in the hands of a fielder in the deep. But till
twenty minutes past 4 p.m. on Monday, he was like the chip off the old block,
putting his head down, showing the full face of the bat and playing each
delivery on merit. 

Unlike his father, the junior Gavaskar was raised as a left-handed batsman, and
today he undertook a job of occupying the crease with the intention of
accumulating runs with the kind of resolve and purpose his father was famous
for. Gavaskar's 14th century in first class competition cost a clueless Sri
Lanka `A' 173 runs, a substantial contribution that saw India `A' make 556 for
the loss of seven wickets on the third day for a lead of 216. 

Just ten boundary shots, all hit along the ground and between the gaps,
embellished his long and watchful innings. It marked out the essential
difference from the firm and telling blows for maximum rewards and the nudges
and flicks for lesser gains which he made capital of. He worked the ball around
his pads, placed his shots to split fielders and his fellow colleagues too
rallied around him to sustain partnerships that saw India `A' prosper at the
rate of nearly four runs an over. The home team added 353 runs in 90 overs to
its overnight 203 for three. 

Clearly Gavaskar was keen and eager to make amends for his poor shot selection
in the first Test at Motera. He was determined to come up with a big effort,
------

Rohan was also top-scorer for India-A in the first innings of the first test
against SL-A - he got 60 (Kaif 53, Badani 50), and, apparently from above, was
unhappy with his shot-selection. 

Overall this makes him easily as the top-scorer of the short series so far,
with only 3 innings played - 60, 13 and 173 to date. (Compare some others: Das
40, 11, 16; Kaif 53, 50*, 28;  Badani 50, 0;  Sriram 7, 4, 3). 

At the very least, severe criticism that he took for being an unworthy India-A
pick at the start of the season has been disproved by these performances. 


>Looks like a draw still but you never know Karthik and maybe Munaf
>have tended to do well in second innings...
>

A nice blast at the end of the day to push the lead up - from the time Powar
came in, they hit 116 at over 5.1 an over at the end of the day (with Powar
hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes in his 64*). That's pushed the lead up to 216 by
the end of the day - surely enough to declare overnight, and try whatever they
can. 


>
>When kanitkar scored, he was sent to australia as replacement for...
>

Heh. He went as part of the 16 to start the tour, really :-)

But its a fair point. There is an ODI side to be selected at the end of the
India-A series (and after India's tests in Australia). Given the way Indian
selectors are, they will look at India-A a little bit at least, if there are
spots to fill. Kaif hasnt done that well lately for instance - if he doesnt
really do well in this A-tour, his place will be under even more threat. If
Rohan keeps this sort of scoring up, he might well have a shot at that spot.

BTW, Das *really* is the blue-eyed boy, isnt he? Was supposed to be on par with
Jaffer last year before NZ, got outperformed domestically, and yet went to NZ.
Was selected captain of India-A in England - and was the worst of the openers
in runs and averages both (with Jaffer being the best), and somehow Das stayed
in contention, even captaining India-A in tour matches against NZ as well as
against SL-A. Now he has scored 40, 11 and 16 against SL-A. Lets see if he
still retains his spot for the 3rd "test" against SL-A next week. (With Ranji
performances being taken into account, and a "rotation policy" in effect, one
would expect a few changes for that 3rd test - with Jaffer, Mongia, Paul etc
all having a shot at making it). 


Sadiq [ should be a draw tomorrow, given this pitch ] Yusuf



>regards
>Pranshu B Saxena.
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