NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
STAT SHEET
DIARY
HOT LINKS
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
BOOKS & THINGS
DEAR REDIFF

The Rediff Interview/Sunil Joshi

My goal is to return to the side

Chandramouli Kannavi

When Sunil Bhandacharya Joshi's name did not appear in the list of probables - not, mind you, the final team, he did not even make the 27 probables for the pre-Asia Cup camp in Bangalore - eyebrows were raised.

However, surprisingly, not even in his native Bangalore was there any sign of a fuss, any uproar, hue and cry. Why? Could it be that the public perception of Joshi is that of a player who has not fulfilled his potential? Is that why there is little surprise at the fact that he did not figure in the list of the top 27 - at least in theory, that is what the probables for the camp represent - in the country?

Whatever. The fact is that after nine Tests and 22 ODIs spanning tours of England, Sri Lanka, Canada, South Africa and the West Indies, he finds himself out of favour.

I caught up with him at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, a few days after his erstwhile colleagues had left for Colombo, for the Asia Cup and subsequent Test and ODI series.

Through with his practise session, Joshi led me to his purple coloured Maruti Zen, and drove me through the chaos of Bangalore's late evening traffic to his first floor flat in the Canara Bank officers' quarters. And once inside, turns on his 30" TV.

My memory goes back to his one room, third floor shack in a lower middle class locality of a few years back. And my eyes take in the well-furnished flat we are in now, courtesy his managerial posting with Canara Bank. Joshi notices my look. "Only the fridge and TV are mine," he says.

I guess it is one of those unfortunate coincidences that he lost his place in the Indian side the day he moved into this flat. Meanwhile, his brother - who sports the trademark Joshi smile - wanders in with cups of tea for the two of us. And I ask Sunil how he assesses his performance with the senior team, thus far.

"Well, England was, frankly, disappointing," the left arm spinner says. "Injury forced me to return home. After that, I had a fairly good tour of Sri Lanka and Canada. In Lanka, I scored 49, and took two wickets against Australia. I then played my part in the one-off Test win against Australia at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi, and didn't do badly at all in the three-Test series against South Africa at home.

"Then I found myself out of the Test eleven in South Africa, but got a recall for the one day triangular series there, and took 3 for 40 in the crucial game against Zimbabwe which we won to qualify for the final.

"The West Indies series I think was my best so far. I played in 4 Tests and took 13 wickets, got nine in the tour game against Guyana which we won. Then back home, in the Independence Cup opener against New Zealand, I had 2 for 35 and two run outs. Then I had one bad outing - against Pakistan at Chennai. In that game, every single Indian bowler was clobbered, but I found myself dropped from the side after that game."

But, I persist, the point is, you made the side as the all rounder India was looking for. Do you think you have fulfilled that brief?

The question agitates Joshi. "Look," he says, "in one dayers, I mostly go in with very few balls remaining, and all I can do is hit out at the first one I get, which brings with it the risk of making mistakes and getting out. But in the opening Test at Jamaica, for instance, I scored 47, and helped India avert the follow on. So you judge for yourself."

So now that he finds himself out of the side, what plans does he have for making the comeback? "See," he explains, "I came up the hard way. When the Karnataka stars were away, I scored 500 runs and took 52 wickets in domestic tournaments, which is how I broke into the Indian team. I still remember those early days - getting up at 3.30 am, catching the 4 am train to Hubli to practise from 6.30 am to 9 am, then take the bus back to my native place (Gadag - a distance of 40 miles from Hubli) to go back to school.

"My point is, hard work is not new to me. I have been appointed captain of the Karnataka side now, and through my performances in domestic tournaments I hope to remind the selectors that I still exist, and that I am not bad enough to be left out of even the shortlist of 27. In fact, for Karnataka, it is possible that I might open the batting in limited overs games, to take advantage of the field restrictions and loft the ball over the infield."

Recalling his entry into cricket, Joshi goes back to his start, playing cricket with a tennis ball in Gadag. It was in 1984 that he got an opportunity to play for Akay Industries, Hubli, and thus to play in the Bangalore league. Joshi shifted to Bangalore in 1990, when Syndicate Bank offered him a job.

"It was then that I really began learning and improving, in the company of people like B S Chandrasekhar, A V Jayaprakash, B Sudhakar Rao and B Vijayakrishna. That was how I got to play for Karnataka's junior team, where I did pretty well."

Powered by those performances, Joshi made the Karnataka Ranji side in the 1992-'93 season against Hyderabad, scoring 83 not out in his first game. Then came the quarterfinal against Bombay, in which he scored 118, and took seven wickets. It was this performance that caught the eye of the selection committee, and paved his way into the national side.

So, I ask, now that you are out of the side, what are your plans for self-improvement? "After being dropped," he responds, "I went to Delhi, to meet Bishen Bedi and work out with him in the nets. He gave me a lot of tips, was very helpful. More than his practical advice, what helped was that he told me to relax, to lighten up, to not be depressed at being dropped. He even gave me some books - not cricket books, just general stuff to divert my mind and help me relax. Besides this, I am also in touch with E A S Prasanna on a regular basis. I guess my immediate goal is to forget that I have been dropped, to start from scratch, peform in the domestic matches, get back into the Indian side."

I ask him if he had heard of how Ian Chappell, commentating on television, compared him pretty favourably with the great Bishen Bedi. "Sure, I heard about that," says Joshi smiling. "I am nowhere in Bedi's class - even today, after so many years out of action, he is a superb bowler. But it does give me something to work towards."

And what, I ask, is his ultimate ambition? "Simple," he says. "To get back in the national team. One thing I'll tell you," he says, looking fiercely determined. "Once I come back to the side, there won't be any way they can drop me in the future, that I will ensure with my performances."

Sunil Joshi: Career statistics