Sadagopan Ramesh answered more than one question with his stroke-filled century in the three-day cricket tour match between India 'A' and New Zealand at the Corporation Grounds here on Friday.
Critics have held his foot work, or the lack of it, against his inclusion in the Indian team but the Tamil Nadu left-hander showed today he has the wherewithal to succeed at the highest level.
"It is difficult for a player to get a hundred if he does not have a good footwork," said Ramesh who made 110 in India A's first innings against the visitors.
"For past couple of years, I have tightened my game a little more and I desperately wanted to get to the three-figure mark in this match and I am happy I have done it.
"I have done this before at the highest level and given a chance I would do it again," said Ramesh, who has scored 1367 runs from 19 Tests runs so far.
Ramesh, who played his last Test for India in Sri Lanka in 2001, hit two well-timed half-centuries, in the semifinal and the final of the Ranji Trophy, and continued his form into the new season when he scored a triple hundred in the local league in Chennai.
{{/usCountry}}Ramesh, who played his last Test for India in Sri Lanka in 2001, hit two well-timed half-centuries, in the semifinal and the final of the Ranji Trophy, and continued his form into the new season when he scored a triple hundred in the local league in Chennai.
{{/usCountry}}"I think I have done my job, now it is for the selectors to decide whether I can be in the Indian team or not," said Ramesh in his typically withdrawn style.
"I have created more opportunity for myself to get back into the Indian squad with this hundred.
"I have been waiting for this opportunity since long and I am happy that I was able to grab it when I got one," Ramesh said.
Ramesh, who averaged 40.77 with 643 runs in the last domestic season, said "probably the motivation factor is much higher in a big game though I did get runs in domestic cricket last season too.
"I never thought of the consequences of failing here. The most important fact is that I got to the three-figure mark."
The southpaw, who shared a 164-run opening stand with Delhi's Akash Chopra, was full of praise for the Delhi batsman who made a solid 66.
"Chopra is a technically solid player and the right-left combination always helps the pair to take some runs away from the bowlers, until and unless the bowler happens to be a McGrath or an Allan Donald," he said.
Ramesh said he "could have added another 40-50 runs" to his knock. "The weather over here is too hot, I am happy about the knock, I would not say I am totally relieved because I could have added another 40-50 runs."