The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A grim possibility

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 25, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

A grim possibility

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Relegation appears a grim possibility for Delhi on the eve of its Ranji Trophy elite group league match against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium here. It has just two points to its credit after four matches.

The presence of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir not withstanding, Delhi, after a long time, begins the match as an underdog against Railways. The recent return to form of Aakash Chopra and Mithun Manhas cannot help raise Delhi's spirits beyond a point. After two defeats at home, the Delhi camp is beset with selection related problems, besides that of discipline.

"It is for the boys to play for their pride and redeem themselves over the next four days. It is a long road ahead," observed Delhi coach Madan Lal.

In a rare situation, two former champions, Delhi and Karnataka, are fighting to survive relegation. Their match in the next round could well decide the fate but Delhi just cannot afford to allow things to drift anymore. It needs four points and nothing less from this encounter, the course of which could be dictated by the toss.

Railways too struggles

Railways too have struggled this season, with the top order batsmen failing to fire. "I hope the batsmen will come score in this key match. We've had some very intense contests in the past and this one should be equally competitive. Obviously we will look to win," said Railways coach Vinod Sharma.

Knowing its strength in the spin department, Railways has a good chance, having scored a comprehensive victory over Gujarat, on this turner in the last match at home. "It was a big morale booster for us," said captain Sunjoy Bangar.

The teams (from): Delhi: V. Sehwag (Capt.), A. Chopra, G. Gambhir, S. Dhawan, M. Manhas, M. Tehlan, A. Jain, V. Kumar, A. Bhandari, K. Lall, M. Dewan, C. Nanda, Y. Sachdeva and A. Sharma.

Railways: S. Bangar (Capt.), A. Pagnis, V. Saxena, R. Ali, Y. K. T. Goud, J. P. Yadav, S. Khanolkar, M. Kartik, S. Wankhede, H. Singh, K. Parida, S. Saxena, G. S. Rao and M. Yadav.

Umpires: Messrs A. V. Jayaprakash and B. S. P. Rao; Match Referee: Sumit Dutta.

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