Leadfoot Syndrome?. Review on Sadagoppan Ramesh

Sadagoppan Ramesh will probably be remembered as one more of those countless players who make it to the Indian team and fade away in the blink of an eye. Frankly, in my opinion Ramesh is an example of how easy it is to earn an Indian cap.

Ramesh, a flat track bully to the core like countless other Indian batsmen before him and surely countless others after played well against Pakistan and Sri Lanka on flat pitches of India and Sri Lanka respectively. I am sure if one googles creatively enough one will find some stats of Ramesh doing well abroad too...and Sharjah doesnt qualify. I have mentioned in an earlier review that a good player is one who does well abroad and based on that Ramesh was a bad player.

Sadagoppan Ramesh's footwork would probably put Sunny Deol to shame,if you know what I mean. Whenever he batted he would rely on his eye and instinct to play his strokes...a typical stand and deliver type. This kind of approach is good for flat tracks that are available in India and Sri Lanka. However he got into serious trouble against genuine pace even on these tracks. It was a foregone conclusion that he would have a torrid time abroad with his leaden footwork. Towards the end of his first run in the Indian team, he was batting with his foot firmly planted in the crease and the bat swishing about all over the place...reminds me of one more southpaw who is going through the horrors these days...Sourav Ganguly, but lets finish with Ramesh first. Ramesh was an okayish right arm spinner as well,nothing much to write home about as far as his bowling goes. Frankly nothing much in his batting either if you ask me. Towards the end the main footwork was in the walk to and fro from the pavilion!

One more thing that used to make me pull my hair out in frustration was his dismissals immediately after reaching a landmark,usually a fifty. It appeared that he felt he had done his bit...if you feel that hitting a fifty against Zim or SL on Indian pitches is great, then there is surely some problem with you.

My opinion of Ramesh is that he is a very good batsman for Ranji, Duleep and Deodhar trophies. He will find the bowling of Debasis Mohanty, Harvinder Singh and such other ''fast'' bowlers to his liking and will do well against them. So he should remain at that level and hopefully the selectors will let him compete against such players and not thrust him once again to the international arena where he is bound to struggle given his various weaknesses. As a parting thought, maybe he can play in overseas tours against Bangladesh in Bangladesh..who knows he might become the first Indian cricketer to hit a triple century abroad in test cricket!