``Watch this boy ... he'll soon play for the country,'' Srikkanth had said. The former India opener had mixed feelings yesterday when the Tamil Nadu cricketer fell four short of a maiden century.

``Why did you play that shot, boy,'' Srikkanth repeatedly asked the shy TN opener at an evening get-together on Saturday. Ramesh, for his part, just bowed his head, quite aware of the fact that he had disappointed several well-wishers.

Ramesh owes much to Srikkanth for his progress in the game. ``He has always been a great motivator. He had advised me on the importance of playing long innings. He was the one who told me to rely more on timing rather than hard hits against pace bowlers,'' the new-find said.

His knocks against the visiting West Indies A team, prior to the visit of the Pakistanis, helped Ramesh ``face real pace bowling.''

``I learnt theimportance of playing the cut and the pull more than drives against the pacers,'' Ramesh admitted. He scored 138 in one of the `Tests' against the Caribbeans. ``The India A performance made me feel confident of playing high quality fast bowling,'' he admitted.

Ramesh knows the importance of an opening batsman. ``Mental toughness and staying power are two vital virtues of any opening batsman. More so, if the opposition has such quality bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq,'' he said.

Incidentally, the Chemplast employee started his cricket as a medium pacer and had no formal training in the game. It was basically his brothers (Rajesh, Satish and Mahesh) who encouraged him to become a batsman. An aggregate of 556 with three centuries in five matches at an average of 111.2 in the last Ranji Trophy season was a result of his hard work.

Ramesh, who is in his fourth first-class season as an opener, hasn't set any targets for himself. ``Setting targets only adds to the pressure. Theyhamper your mental sharpness. I want to play my natural game, match by match, session by session,'' he said.

England's Mike Atherton is Ramesh's role model. ``I like the way he bats,'' India's newest discovery said. After having played three good knocks in his four innings, Ramesh is now keen to cement his place in the national squad.