Proud Feeling

Maharashtra keeper Rohit Motwani recalls with pride how he didn’t concede a bye in his Ranji debut when Tamil Nadu openers raised over 400 runs for the 1st wicket

Suhrid Barua, Pune Miror March 23, 2009

Wicketkeeping can be a thankless job for you hardly get noticed if you maintain a clean slate (not drop catches or concede byes). It’s a job that grab maximum eyeballs when you put down a chance or in other words dish out a sloppy performance behind the stumps.But, there are also highs associated with wicketkeeping. For example, if a keeper doesn’t concede a bye when the oppostion has stacked up a huge first innings score, it can be quite a creditable achievement.

Maharashtra Ranji wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani sports a broad grin when you try ask him about that magnificent effort of not conceding a bye in his Ranji debut against Tamil Nadu in their 2008-09 Ranji Trophy opener at Nashik, when Tamil Nadu’s opening duo had raised a massive 425-run stand. “I’ve vivid memories of that game, it was my debut tie. Tamil Nadu openers - Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund stitched together 462 runs for the first wicket, 425 of which were scored by them with me not conceding a bye. In fact, when they closed out day one at 377 for no loss, I felt highly satisfied because it’s not often that a keeper doesn’t concede a bye when the opposition runs up a score in excess of 400,” recounts Motwani, who gave further evidence of his promise, smacking a strokefilled 114 for Maharashtra 1 in a practice tie at Poona Club on Wednesday.

It’s a different matter altogether that Motwani’s feat is far off the world Test record of a keeper not conceding a bye in a highest innings total, held by Zimbabwe Tatendu Taibu (when Sri Lanka posted 713/3 decl at Bulawayo, in May 2004).The 18-year-old BMCC first year student believes any gloveman would be filled with pride when if a single bye is not conceded when a team racks up a a huge score.

“It’s not about me, even greats like Adam Gilchrist, Mark Boucher would be proud with such kind of efforts,” said the Aund lad, who also broke the jinx of not getting a century in his last twenty-odd innings. “I’ve been getting starts but not quite able to translate them into big one. I used to get out in the forties a lot, and this ton will give me loads of confidence to maintain the consis-tency of getting the hundred and not to content with 30s, 40s and 50s,” remarked the youngster who incidentally had his batting best of 42 against Baroda.

Motwani’s first full stint with the State Ranji side (he played in all the six games this season) has evoked hope of Maharashtra finding a wick-etkeeper for the future. Remember, Maharashtra employed two keepers -Yogesh Takawale and Satyajit Satbhai for the Ranji 2006-07 season and Vishant More and Sunil Jadhav for the 2007-08 season but in Mot-wani, the State would hopefully find the stability it’s looking for.