Another son rises in the East

It is quite unusual for sons of two former Indian cricketers to participate in the same first class match. And it is even more unusual that one of them should be making his debut. But that's precisely what happened in the Bengal-Tripura Ranji Trophy game currently being played at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta.

Rohan Gavaskar has of course been a permanent fixture in the Bengal team for some years now. The 24-year-old son of Sunil Gavaskar has not really come anywhere near his legendary father's stature but the left hander in his own way has done more than his bit for Bengal and East Zone.

On Sunday, he was joined in the Bengal team by the son of another former Indian player, even if that cricketer did not represent the country in official Tests. Gopal Bose played for India in unofficial `Tests' on the tour of Sri Lanka in 1974 and also made the trip to England later that year where he played his only one day international. He was perhaps a trifle unfortunate in not playing in official Tests. Being a specialist opener - a rather rare breed in Indian cricket at the time - he certainly deserved better. But on the first day of the Bengal-Tripura Ranji Trophy match, he had the satisfaction of seeing his son Arijit Bose make a century on his first class debut.

Bengal captain and former Indian opening batsman Devang Gandhi also scored a century but the talk of the day was the younger Bose's innings. The 24-year-old cricketer started playing the game quite late. Unlike his father, he is a left hander. More than the runs he scored, the manner in which he played was more impressive. Granted, the Tripura bowling is anything but strong. Still a century on debut is something that has to be hailed. From all accounts, Arijit played with a lot of composure. The highlight of his batting was the time that he had to play his shots. His 101 was marked by some splendid cover drives. He also showed a willingness to boldly hit the ball over the fielders. Showing good temperament, he faced 184 balls and hit 15 of them to the ropes. He dominated the first wicket partnership of 122 runs off 34.5 overs with Amitava Banerjee (48) and then matched his more experienced captain Devang Gandhi in strokeplay and run production during a second wicket stand of 92 runs off 20.3 overs. Speaking about his innings, Arijit said ``when I first went down to bat on Sunday evening, I did not feel any pressure. Today however, the pressure got to me as I desperately wanted to reach three figures."

It is of course too early to say how far Arijit can reach. One only hopes that he enjoys better luck in his career than his father did.