Ajay Sharma in elite company
The history of Indian cricket is riddled with examples of players who have run up a mountain of runs in the Ranji Trophy but whose Test careers have not matched their deeds in the first class game
Partab Ramchand
19-Feb-2000
The history of Indian cricket is riddled with examples of players who
have run up a mountain of runs in the Ranji Trophy but whose Test
careers have not matched their deeds in the first class game. Prime
examples of this would be batsman like Brijesh Patel, Ashok Mankad and
Ashok Malhotra. Some figures will perhaps be the best way to drive
home the point.
Patel ran up the then record tally of 7126 runs in the Ranji Trophy at
an average of 57.00 with 26 centuries. His Test record was a much more
modest 972 runs from 21 matches at an average of 29.45 with one
century. His record was surpassed by Ashok Malhotra who ultimately
finished with a tally of 7274 runs at an average of 53.48 with 18
hundreds. In Tests however Malhotra's figures were disappointing - 226
runs from seven games at an average of 25.11 with no hundreds. Prior
to Patel, Mankad held the record for most runs in the national
competition - 6619 at an average of 76.08 with 22 hundreds. In Tests,
it was a very different story. Mankad's record was 991 runs from 22
matches at an average of 25.41 with no hundreds.
Now however even the disparity of these three players has been put
into the shade by Ajay Sharma. During the first innings of the Ranji
Trophy Super League game against Bengal at the Eden Gardens, the
35-year-old veteran from Delhi crossed an important landmark - 10,000
runs in first class cricket. But what is even more striking is the
fact that the runs have been got at an average of 68.50, which makes
him the third best in the all time figures. The two above him are Don
Bradman (95.14) and Vijay Merchant (71.22). And in fourth and fifth
place are two other all time great Australians Bill Ponsford (65.18)
and Bill Woodfull (64.99).
So Sharma is certainly in exalted company. But there is a lot of
disparity between his Test figures and the statistics concerning the
other three. Bradman as almost everyone knows, scored 6996 runs from
52 Tests at an average of 99.94 with 29 centuries. Merchant played ten
Tests, scored 859 runs at an average of 47.72 with three
centuries. Ponsford from 29 Tests, scored 2122 runs at an average of
48.22 with seven centuries. Woodfull's tally was 2300 runs from 35
Tests at an average of 46.00 with seven centuries. Sharma, on the
other hand, played in just one Test - against West Indies at Madras in
1987-88 - and scored 53 runs at an average of 26.50.
The small and stocky Delhi right hander has played almost all his
first class cricket in India. He went on tours with Indian teams, to
West Indies in 1989, and to Pakistan and New Zealand a year later. He
played only three matches in West Indies, two in New Zealand and none
at all in Pakistan. This was the time when he was a candidate for the
slot of utility man in the Indian team (he bowls slow left arm
spinners). Indeed, Sharma has also played 31 ODI's scoring 424 runs at
an average of 20.19 with a highest score of 59 not out. But over the
last decade, he has not been considered fit for a recall even though
he has been the heaviest run getter in domestic cricket. Four times,
three in successive seasons, he has topped the 1000 run mark in first
class cricket. And in 1996-97 he became only the third batsman to
score over 1000 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season. His career
average of just over 80 in the national competition is second only to
Merchant's 98.35.
Even granting that the big scores around the domestic circuit have to
be taken with a pinch of salt - given the docile pitches - it can be
said that Ajay Sharma has been a bit unlucky. After all, the other
players mentioned in the beginning all had a better deal from the
selectors despite having a record which does not measure up to
Sharma's. His 38 first class centuries - a record 31 in the Ranji
Trophy alone - in 160 innings compares favourably with any other
batsman, save Bradman. A gutsy player with an insatiable appetite for
runs, Sharma seemed to have the temparament to clinch a place in the
Indian team. But somewhere along the way, he lost his way. For long
however he nurtured hopes of making a comeback because of his
tremendous record around the domestic circuit. Now, more than 12 years
since his only Test and over seven years since his last appearance for
the country, it can be said that his chances of a comeback are
remote. It is a credit to his durable qualities that he still
continues to make mountains of runs even though the obvious motivation
of a comeback to international cricket may no longer be there. Now, of
course crossing a significant landmark and being in exalted company
surely is motivation enough for him to carry on further and build upon
his already superlative record.