Old talent, long wait

Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu. Say it again. Has a ring to it, right? Rhythmically speaking, the man’s batting takes the cake.

The featherbed at the Wankhede Stadium, hosting the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie between Mumbai and Baroda, has produced no less than 1,087 runs in 358 overs. Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar all scored hundreds — and defining ones at that — over the first three days but you knew you hadn’t watched that one knock you’d yearned for. On Wednesday, Rayudu fulfilled that wish. Mind you, his free-flowing 89 had no impact on the direction the game was taking.

Baroda added no more than 104 runs to their overnight score of 167 for five. As expected, Mumbai, buoyed by a lead of 374, did not enforce the follow-on. Instead, they strode out for their second dig and added 171 for the loss of Jaffer (33) to end the day 545 ahead. Day Five promises to be as mundane as most of Day Four was. And yes, Mumbai have booked their place in the semifinal where they will be meet the admirable Services outfit for the first time in the Ranji Trophy since 1964-65. For the record, that ‘Bombay’ team boasted the likes of Bapu Nadkarni, Ajit Wadekar and Manohar Hardikar. In other words, it’s been a long time.

Back to Rayudu and his aggressive, but risk-free batting. The right-hander, who started the day on 10, saw partner Pinal Shah fall to an atrocious shot 51 minutes into the day. The wicketkeeper-batsman played away from the body, only to be caught in the gully where Hiken Shah took the catch on the second attempt. It was debutant left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar’s third wicket of the innings. But by then, Rayudu had taken his tally to 26 with a couple of on-drives.

Gagandeep Singh Natt, Ketul Patel, Murtuja Vahora and Bhargav Bhatt — each of them guilty of conceding over a hundred runs with the ball — collectively lasted just 61 deliveries as Baroda were bowled out for 271, exactly 141 minutes into the day. They could have surely done better.
Maybe the loss of partners at regular intervals spurred him on. Ajit Agarkar, stationed at mid-wicket, dropped him on 33. That was, perhaps, the only blemish in his knock.

He danced down the wicket to dispatch Chavan for a classic straight six. Mumbai took the new ball in the 100th over, and it only helped Rayudu’s cause. He slashed Dhaval Kulkarni over the third man, and used his feet well to collect boundaries on either side of the wicket. And when No 11 Bhatt played an attempted pull to be caught at gully by Tendulkar off Javed Khan, Rayudu was left stranded. He gave the party-pooper an earful, before saying, “Chhodna chahiye tha na (you should have let it go).”

Rayudu deserved a hundred, but come to think of it, he’s never got what he’s deserved. He first made news as a 16-year-old, cracking a 177 against the England U-19 team in 2002. One thing led to another and his career never took off. And look at the number of batsmen who’ve ‘overtaken’ him. His stint with the Mumbai Indians made him a household name again. Stalwarts like Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh have rated him highly. The move from Hyderabad to Baroda has certainly helped, as have those 647 runs this season. He was part of the squad for the T20s — against England and Pakistan — but never got a game. He’s waited more than 10 years for an India cap. Let’s not make him wait any longer.