da apostebet： The closest he got to playing for the country was representing theRest of India in the Irani Trophy game against Mumbai
Partab Ramchand23-Jun-2001The closest he got to playing for the country was representing theRest of India in the Irani Trophy game against Mumbai. But SunilSubramaniam has no regrets. The left arm spinner from Tamil Nadu wasconsidered to be among the most feared bowlers in first class cricketin this country not only for his skill as a bowler but for hisaggressive approach. He was a slow bowler with the fast bowler’sattitude. And after a distinguished career that lasted just over adecade, Sunil formally announced his retirement from the game onSaturday.Perhaps calling it a day was in the mind of the 34-year-old Sunil forsome time now. What hastened the decision was a torn ligament in hisleft leg following a freak mishap at practice. Two operations followedas a result and it was obvious that a return to competitive cricketfor Sunil was out of the question.The tall spin bowler had a bag of 258 wickets from 66 Ranji Trophymatches, 245 of them for Tamil Nadu over a ten year period from1988-89. After being dropped from the state team, Sunil played forAssam as a professional last season. He took 13 wickets and played aleading role in Assam making the knock out stage.Sunil took 19 wickets in six Duleep Trophy games for South Zone with abest of five for 14 against North Zone at Valsaad in 1993-94. In theone Irani Trophy game he played in 1994-95, he had the wicket ofSanjay Manjrekar. Totally, he took five wickets in an innings 20 timesin first class cricket and picked up ten wickets in a match fourtimes.Sunil’s tally of 245 wickets for Tamil Nadu is the third highest for abowler from the State, after S Venkatraghavan (530) and VV Kumar(417). With Diwakar Vasu and M Venkatramana, he formed a much fearedspin trio in the late eighties and nineties. Sunil himself made hisfirst class debut for Tamil Nadu against the visiting New Zealand sidein 1988-89. He took three for 83 and three for 82 and was given thebest bowler award in the match. Sunil’s best haul in a season was 39wickets in 1992-93. Along with AG Ram Singh and VV Kumar, Sunil holdsthe record for maximum wickets in a Ranji Trophy match for Tamil Nadu,14 for 118 against Assam in 1992-93. He took a hat-trick againstKerala the same season.A bowler who thrived on responsibility and greater competition, Sunilreckons K Srikkanth was the best captain he played under. "He broughtout the best in me," he said. Sunil himself captained Tamil Nadu intwo matches in 1996-97.For now, Sunil will concentrate on his career as an executive withIndia Pistons, which has elevated him to a post of greaterresponsibility. But he hopes to return to the game he loves, "mostprobably as an umpire," as he put it.