1.
Abhay Kuruvilla :
Possibly
the tallest player to play for India at 6'6", With his well endowed
physique he gave us the hope that we have finally moved from lanky bowlers like
Prasad and Srinath and we now have an answer to Ambrose and Walsh. He gave us
the hope that we can check speedometer values during Indian Bowling sessions as
well. I remember him taking long strides in his run up, come running towards
the bowling end and bowling. At the speed of 125kmph. This was an end to our
hopes of an express bowler.
Though
during his 1996-97 West Indies tour, Kuruvilla emerged as a key figure in the
Indian attack and a haul of 5 for 68 in the second innings of the third Test at
Bridgetown set up a winning position for India, but Sachin failed and the other
batsmen contrived to throw it away and along with it the hope of a long career
for him.
2. Nilesh
Kulkarni
This tall (6'4") and lanky player from Dombivili, a
suburb in Mumbai, etched a name for himself in the history books by taking a
wicket with his first ball in Test cricket. This was against Sri Lanka at
Colombo in 1997-98. He is the only Indian bowler to achieve this feat and the
12th bowler in the history of the game. Finally we got a bowler beyond Kapil in
the record books of bowling. That was cool.
He bowled 70 overs but amazingly enough that was the only
Test wicket he took for he had the misfortune to bowl when the Sri Lankan
batsmen set several records in running up the highest total in Tests. Read 952
runs in an inning.
3. Hrishikesh
Kanitkar:
Hrishikesh Kanitkar's name will forever be linked with
his winning boundary off Saqlain Mushtaq in fading light in India's memorable
victory over Pakistan at Dhaka in January 1998, when the team chased a 300-plus
target in the Independence Cup final. We thought that we have got a finisher, an
all-rounder. A very rare commodity back then. Rarer than a keeper who could bat
or opener who could touch the ball.
But this however, was the only highlights of his
international career, which included two Tests and 34 one-day internationals.
4.
Vijay Bharadwaj:
Coming into the national side on the back of a 1000-run
domestic season, Vijay Bharadwaj was supposed to be Indian cricket's next big
thing. His debut series - the LG Cup at Nairobi in 1999-2000 - suggested that
there was substance behind the hype, as he took 10 wickets at 12.2 and scored
65 runs without being dismissed and was Man of the series. We were confident
that he would be the person to share load of expectations with Sachin.
But a disappointing tour of Australia saw him become
yesterday's news. He proved to be a second
Narendra Hirwani or Vinod Kambli.
5.
Ajay Ratra :
When Ajay Ratra
gritted 115 not out in Antigua in 2002, he became the youngest wicketkeeper to
score a Test century and the second Indian wicketkeeper to make one overseas.
He was just 20 and it was only his third Test. Now we had a wicketkeeper who doesn’t
get run out and scores century. That too in West Indies. Best possible thing
that could happen to Indian cricket Period.
This was supposed to be a long journey but later he lost
his place in the Test side to Parthiv Patel, and in the one-day side to the
appointment of Rahul Dravid as keeper in the quest for balance.
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