Place in history after hot pursuit

Twenty-Three-Year Venugopala Rao’s only claim to fame before the final day of the South Zone vs England A Duleep Trophy match was being...

Twenty-Three-Year Venugopala Rao’s only claim to fame before the final day of the South Zone vs England A Duleep Trophy match was being part of the under-19 team that won the World Cup in Colombo four years ago. But today amidst empty stands he achieved the impossible and entered world cricket’s Hall of Fame.

Venugopala’s unbeaten 228 helped South Zone chase the victory target of 501 to send the statisticians in a tizzy. Never before in India has a team chased these many runs in the second innings and, as for the international first-class record books, most mentions in the ‘hot pursuit’ section include those in the ancient era. Cambridge University scoring 507/7 against MCC and Grounds XI in 1896 hold the world record and another 500 plus achievement happened during the Players vs Gentlemen game at Lord’s in 1900.

Sadly, South Zone’s monumental feat came with only a handful of spectators being privy to it at the TERI Oval ground and, as the star of the day of Rao said after the match, the celebrations too were low key. ‘‘Since most of the team members had a flight to catch, we just ordered a box of sweets from the guest house canteen and had a quick party,’’ he said forcing a smile on a tired face which had endured seven hours and 47 minutes and two double century stands.

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And adding to that was the sleepless night yesterday. ‘‘Thinking about the next day’s play and how to climb this mountain, I could hardly sleep,’’ he said. But before one can sympathise, he added, ‘‘It was a long journey but I am not tired. Rather, I feel very fresh and relaxed now.’’

But sympathies could be extended to the visiting team, particularly to their strike bowler Simon Jones. The England A pacer, who just yesterday got selected to the main team to tour West Indies, sounded a bit down after the fruitless day on field. ‘‘Cricket is a great leveller. The wicket was flat and lifeless but in no way I am taking the credit away from the South Zone team. They deserved to win,’’ he said.

England A captain James Tredwell too praised the South Zone batsmen and quite obviously pointed out that the bowling wasn’t up to the mark. As for his game plan, he said: ‘‘Initially we opted to attack but as they crept near the target we went on the defensive. And once we lost grip of the match it just kept on slipping,’’ he confessed. If nothing worked for the English team, Rao’s plan went on perfectly. ‘‘I decided to stay at the wicket and see off that day first. Sriram was also in good nick and both of us decided to play our natural game. We did not panic at all. We just planned our innings every 50-75 runs at a time.’’

Incidentally, this also happens to be Venugopala’s first double ton and he couldn’t have asked for more after having to lead the side in the absence of skipper Sadagopan Ramesh who had to sit out owing to an injury.

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So what next? No big talk here but a modest reply. ‘‘Actually I haven’t even informed my parents yet. My birthday happens to be on Thursday so maybe when I reach home there will be a big party,’’ he says.