KOCHI: Having bowled Kerala to the fifth narrowest win ever in Ranji Trophy history the other day, medium pacer Sony Cheruvathur has given his team a fresh lease of life in the Plate League.
By picking up the final Andhra wicket at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here, the former Kerala captain also climbed to the top of an interesting statistical table. Four rounds of matches into the current Ranji Trophy season, the affable allrounder is the leading wicket-taker, including both the Elite and Plate divisions. While left-armer Irfan Pathan, with 21 wickets, is the top bowler among Elite teams, Sony has gobbled up 24 batsmen from seven innings. Himachal Pradesh medium pacer Rishi Dhawan also has 24 scalps but has played an innings more than the Kerala player.
And it does not end there. With 264 runs and a century (104) under his belt, ‘Sonichhan’ — as he is referred to by teammates — is also the leading allrounder so far across divisions. A batting average of 44 looks decent but a bowling average of 12.41 is simply stunning, proving what a handy package the wily cricketer brings to the team.
During his nine-wicket performance against Tripura earlier, he had become the third Kerala medium pacer to reach the milestone of 100 Ranji wickets. At 33, though, his exploits may have come a bit too late for a natural progression into higher levels. But the composed cricketer himself is least bothered about either what might have been or might lay ahead. Going by the current status, however, he looks a certainty in the south zone team for the Duleep Trophy. “I haven’t thought too much about selection or the South Zone team,” he said.
A clean striker and a swing bowler with the physical attributes to hit the deck hard when required, Sony made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2004 when Kerala last played in the Elite division. Former Duleep Trophy cricketer and renowned coach P Balachandran, under whom the hardworking cricketer polished his skills, said that his ward deserved every bit of attention that he is receiving of late.
“His philosophy is based on performing the job at hand to the best of his ability. He simply enjoys the game. That is the reason why he is able to keep such high levels of fitness,” he said. He affirmed that Sony always had the ability to swing the ball. “Sony used to get good swing with the new ball right from his early days. Later, he also developed the craft of reverse swing. He has been Kerala’s best exponent of the reverse for years now,” he added. Current Kerala coach Biju George was profuse in his praise for his senior most player. “This performance has not come just by chance. Over the last few years, he has delivered whenever the team needed him the most, whether it is with the bat or the ball. He has been equally effective with both the new and old balls,” said Biju. “I started my career when Kerala played in the Elite division. It is a big dream that we should play in the Elite League again,” Sony said.