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Yere Goud hoping for
national call

Railways middle order batsman Yere Goud says he is quite hopeful of making it to the national squad and working very hard towards his objective.

After scoring an impressive century in the three-day match against the West Indies, which ended in a draw in Pune, Goud told reporters that the only way to get into the Indian team is to keep scoring, which is what he is doing for the last couple of seasons.

"I think one has to keep scoring and think positively and leave the rest to God," said the unassuming batsman, who hit a fine 107, his 11th century in first-class cricket.

"This century is very special for me as I got it against a touring side which had a bowler of (Cameron) Cuffy's pace," said the 30-year-old, who praised the West Indian paceman who, he said, was the toughest bowler to negotiate on Saturday.

"He bowled with a lot of fire and one had to watch him carefully as he threatened to run through the side," the Bangalore-based cricketer said.

Cuffy was the most impressive of West Indian bowlers and finished with four wickets for 84 runs.

On Friday, the other Railways centurion, Shreyas Khanolkar, had also singled out Cuffy as the most dangerous bowler from the touring side.

Goud, who hails from Raichur, 500 kms from Bangalore, had also played a season for Karnataka, in 1995, alongside established players like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.

The middle order batsman, who is a prolific scorer for Railways in the domestic circuit, said his team did not have enough time to prepare for the three-day match against the West Indies.

"We did not know that we were to play the visiting West Indians as we thought India 'A' would be playing at Pune. When our coach informed us about it, we started practicing on astro turf in Delhi to get used to the extra bounce and pace generated by the West Indian bowlers," he said.

"I had earlier got a double century in Pune, playing against Maharashtra, and I suppose I have a liking for the Pune wicket," he added.

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