Indian team8217;s sporting gesture

PUNE, March 29: This is the place where it all began almost a decade ago. He could well have been at the centre of the ground, signing autographs and posing for photographs had it not been for one freak accident that happened on November 23, 1996. Well life went on, and almost two years after his brilliant career as a cricketing all-rounder was forced to an end, Mahendra More, ex-Maharashtra wicket-keeper-cum-batsman, was on the outside of the dressing rooms of Nehru stadium where he had played his first match, surrounded by the entire Indian team.

The player who had met with a road accident that left him a paraplegic alongwith short-term memory impairment and a slurred speech two years ago, was today promised attendance for a benefit match after the World Cup by almost every cricketer in the Indian team that is here to play Sri Lanka in the one-day-international tomorrow.

More made his debut in the Ranji Trophy season in 1991-92 at the very same Nehru Stadium, as opening batsman-cum-wicket-keeper. RahulDravid also made his debut in the very same match. More8217;s 89 runs were the few resistances to Srinath8217;s seven-wicket haul in the same match. Later, in Kolhapur, he took seven victims from Baroda, falling just one short of Syed Kirmani8217;s record of eight and then scored 120 runs against the same team at the latter8217;s home ground.