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Somasunder, Hirwani tops

April 01, 2003 18:40 IST

Former Karnataka and India batsman Sujith Somasunder, who now plays for Kerala, tops the runs aggregate in first class matches in the 2002-03 Indian domestic season, having scored 964 runs, at an impressive average of 60.25 in 10 matches. He is closely followed by Mumbai opening batsman Wasim Jaffer, who has 941 runs, at an average of 55.35, to his name.

Young Delhi left-hander Gautam Gambhir has the highest average of 81.30, having scored 813 runs in eight matches. He is a certainity for the Indian team for the Dhaka triangular series following a consistent showing for the India 'A' team in the West Indies domestic Carib series.

Veteran spinner Narendra Hirwani from Madhya Pradesh tops the bowling charts with 73 wickets in nine matches, at an average of 17.38.

India discard Sunil Joshi is the only other bowler to pick more than 50 wickets -- 52 wickets in 9 matches, with an average of 17.11.

Following is a summary of the leading batsmen and bowlers:

Top run-getters this season - in all first-class matches (as on 1-4-2003)

Batsman Runs Mts Avg
S Somasunder 964 10 60.25
W Jaffer 941 11 55.35
AA Pagnis 900 10 52.94
J Arunkumar 864 10 57.60
S Sriram 862 9 78.36
G Gambhir 813 8 81.30
Yashpal Singh 804 7 73.09
HH Kanitkar 797 7 61.30
Y Venugopal Rao 724 10 45.25
AR Khurasiya 717 9 51.21
VST Naidu 717 9 59.75
MSK Prasad 711 9 50.78
SS Parab 710 8 64.54
DS Manohar 700 9 46.66
Top wicket-takers this season - in all first-class matches (as on 1-4-2003)

Bowler Wkts Mts Avg
ND Hirwani 73 9 17.38
Sunil B Joshi 52 9 17.11
A Bhandari 46 9 21.71
KS Parida 42 10 30.80
RJ Kanwat 41 11 24.00
L Balaji 38 6 13.18
KNA Padmanabhan 38 7 13.63
Sarandeep Singh 37 11 34.89
D Ganesh 36 9 25.66
F Shaikh 35 5 20.40
SV Bahutule 35 10 20.11
Irfan Pathan-jr 34 10 32.85
Amit Mishra 32 6 22.75
PV Gandhe 32 6 20.25
S Santh 32 10 27.87
M Acharya 30 6 24.73

Mohandas Menon