Powar pushes the right buttons

Ramesh Powar must be wondering what on earth he needs to do to earn a recall to the Indian team. He's taking wickets, he's throwing his famous rotund figure on rock-hard Indian outfields, saving certain boundaries and effecting run-outs. But the selectors clearly have no intentions of casting him as an allrounder, though he has also shown potential as a batsman. So, he must be wondering, what else is required?

When the Indian squad was announced for the first two Tests against Pakistan, Powar wasn't handed a ticket. The return of Harbhajan Singh, after an impressive showing at the ICC World Twenty20, and yet another comeback by Murali Kartik edged Powar out of the equation. His returns in the one-day series in England a few months ago were impressive - six wickets at an economy rate of 4.57 - and he almost made it a habit of picking up a wicket as soon as Rahul Dravid brought him on.

But he went wicketless in his last four ODIs, compounded by the manner in which he leaked runs against the Australians last month. Sent back to domestic cricket to prove himself, Powar is tossing them up, getting them to turn and bounce and, most importantly, striking with his slower ones. Against Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Powar had Dravid's number in the first innings: a flighted delivery spun and bounced to produce an edge, taken close to the wicket. Karnataka were bowled out for 195 in the first innings and Powar took 5 for 69.

Against Tamil Nadu today, the slow death continued as he wrapped up the home side for a disappointing 206 with 4 for 55 in 19.

Powar was brought on after 28 overs but troubled Tamil Nadu long before he began to measure his run-up. M Vijay and Dinesh Karthik had put on a confident opening stand of 47 when an alert Powar flung himself to his right to stop a firm flick by Vijay towards square leg, gathered himself to his feet, hurled the ball to the bowler in almost the same action and caught Vijay miles outside the crease.

Karthik too wasn't lucky enough to escape Powar. He was batting on 76 when Powar fired one faster and flatter, testing Karthik's reflexes. Getting down on his knee to sweep, the ball struck Karthik in front of the stumps and Tamil Nadu lost their most valuable player at the wrong time. Karthik's displeasure indicated that the umpire's decision may have been debatable but, until otherwise proven, Powar will deserve credit for out-thinking the batsman.

During the tour of England, Powar told Cricinfo he preferred to toss it up at an annoyingly slow pace to the left-handers as they tend to play across the turn. R Ramkumar and S Naresh were both trapped in moments of circumspection as Powar executed this plan again. Bowling round the wicket, Powar lobbed the ball up and Ramkumar, shaping to loft over mid-on with his left foot nailed to the crease, only succeeded in getting a thick edge off the toe of the bat to Wasim Jaffer at slip. Naresh, another left-hander, used his feet but enough to get behind the pitch or line of the ball as another attempted heave over the on side went down the throat of point off a leading edge.

Vijaykumar Yomahesh was Powar's final victim, a bat-pad chance snapped up with both hands at forward short-leg. He was unfortunately denied a fifth wicket when Iqbal Abdulla spilled a skier at deep-backward square leg off R Srinivasan. However, his fielding displays continued amid the fall of wickets, flinging himself at cover on one occasion when the ball flashed off Srinivasan's bat. Though his fielding in England saw an eclectic mixture of (relative) brilliance and forehead-thumping annoyance, there was a refreshing consistency on view today.