BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
PANAJI
An attractive stroke-maker, 21-year-old Snehal Kauthankar has made a smooth transition to the senior State Ranji side last domestic season.
Prior to the Haryana game, he had stacked up modest returns of 672 runs from 13 first class games with three fifties apart from a hundred. But he has served every indication in that span of time that he has the quality to excel in the long run.
And that thirst and drive to make it big was on view over the last two days at Ghaziabad. After setting a new personal benchmark of a first double hundred at the highest level of domestic cricket (225, 481m, 374b, 30x4, 4x6), the dashing batsman said his innings against Haryana was like "a dream come true".
"This is my first double hundred and it feels amazing. It is like a dream come true. I always wanted to score big runs," Snehal told The Goan Everyday after the end of second day's play in Ghaziabad. While talking about his sublime innings, Snehal said: "I was not thinking about anything. I just played my natural game and that is about it. My intention was just to play ball by ball.""I had a small partnership with Sumiran and then with Reagan. It really helped me to score. They (the Haryana bowlers) were not giving many loose balls so we had to wait and bide our time."
Snehal said when he entered the field on Tuesday with Goa precariously placed at 190 for 6, he had already set a target for the team in his mind. "I took the responsibility to take the team score past 400. I was gradually getting very comfortable in the middle. When Reagan was the eighth man out at 327, I was batting at around 150 and switched gears to take the side to a respectable score," Snehal said of his late acceleration in the masterful innings.
The middle-order batsman is optimistic of Goa's chances in the game. "We are still in the game. If we get early wickets in the morning, we could get them all out before they reach 300," he said. Snehal effectively countered the threat of senior leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Speaking about his duel with the India spinner, Snehal said it was a difficult challenge for him as he was facing Mishra for the first time. "It is good to play against such bowlers and getting runs. I was facing him for the first time. Initially, it was not that easy but once I settled in, I got used to it," he said.
Snehal has been part of the Goa dressing room for close to two years. Talking about his experience with the senior side, he said: "It is really good to play with players like Sagun (Kamat), Swapnil (Asnodkar), (Shadab) Jakati. They really helped me through everything."
Snehal's next immediate target is to complete 1000 First Class runs in as fewer games as possible. "Yes, that's my target now. I want to get there as soon as possible," Snehal said.
