Saurashtra gain from mixture of experience and youth

The Saurashtra team had left the stadium, but their batting mainstay, separated...

The Saurashtra team had left the stadium, but their batting mainstay, separated nearly by a generation, sat for a while on the Wankhede lawns to talk cricket. On the eve of their crucial Ranji Trophy match, Shitanshu Kotak, 35, tells 19-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara about past games against present rivals in a bid to demystify champions Mumbai.

Kotak speaks about a former Saurashtra teammate who had a knack of hitting Mumbai’s just recalled veteran spinner, Nilesh Kulkarni, for long sixes. Just for effect, he added: “Pravin Amre was also part of that team.” The present Mumbai coach was Kotak’s contemporary once, but for Pujara, Amre happens to be the junior selector who gave him his first big break.

Such inputs from the old hand will be vital for the relatively new-kid-on-the-block Pujara and the predominantly inexperienced side. When you are the surprise package of this season’s Ranji league and a step away from a historic semi-final berth, besides playing at a high-profile venue against star rivals, getting over or under whelmed could be risky. To be on a high and be grounded at the same time is the balance Saurashtra will be hoping for.

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Back to the Pujara-Kotak conversation and this time the senior pro asks, “Did you see the pitch?” Pujara says he isn’t in the habit of doing it and they both smile. With 733 runs and an average of 91, there can’t be debate over the pre-match ritual of this season’s highest run getter.

Kotak, fresh from his match-winning ton on a wicked wicket, too isn’t much worked up about the pitch. It’s a carefree attitude of someone who has seen the worst.

Kotak, whose first season coincided with Ravi Shastri’s last, is known as a batsman who doesn’t give an inch. His batting style has seen bowlers tearing out their hair. Pujara, Saurashtra’s rare player in national reckoning, has taken his reputation to the next level. Around the country, he is known for his consistency and leading the batting tables isn’t a novelty for him. That’s the reason the top run-getter of 2006 under-19 World Cup has no one in striking range in Ranji Trophy this year.

In this season of Twenty20 triumph and slam-bang cricketers, the Pujara-Kotak pair happens to be a refreshingly odd couple. And on the eve of a game that Saurashtra would like their batsmen to stick around, since a draw would be just fine for them, Mumbai wouldn’t have a problem figuring out who the prized scalps are.