The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Crucial tie for Railways

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Tuesday, Jan 03, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Crucial tie for Railways

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Railways faces its stiffest test in recent times as it fights Maharashtra and the threat of relegation in the penultimate round match of the Ranji Trophy elite group league at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Monday.

"Hard times but the players have to face the realities," admitted Railways coach Vinod Sharma. Having guided the team to some glorious achievements, Vinod Sharma hopes the team would play to its potential in this key match.

With just four points from five matches, Railways lies at the bottom of the pool with Maharashtra sharing the same number of points. The presence of Darren Holder, the coach from Australia, has made little difference to the Maharashtra team.

The Maharashtra players have failed consistently in all departments and this must be a big cause of worry for the team management. Sairaj Bahutule and Munaf Patel, having shifted from Mumbai this season, and Hrishikesh Kanitkar will need to play decisive roles against an opposition that it is determined to make amends for a consistent poor show this season.

Railways is likely to make one change in this match from the team that lost to Delhi inside two days last week. Medium-fast bowler Harvinder Singh is expected to replace left-arm spinner G. Shankar Rao.

The teams (from):

Railways: Sunjoy Bangar (captain), Amit Pagnis, Vineet Saxena, Raja Ali, Shreyas Khanolkar, Yere Goud, J. P. Yadav, Sudhir Wankhede, Murali Kartik, Kulamani Parida and Harvinder Singh.

Maharashtra (from): Hrishikesh Kanitkar (captain), Kaushik Aphale, Sairaj Bahutule, Dheeraj Jadhav, Abhijit Kale, Dhruv Mohan, Munaf Patel, Anupam Sanklecha, Ranjit Khirid, Satyajit Satbhai, Suyash Burkul, Rohit Jadhav, Yogesh Pawar, Mansingh Nigde, Kunal Marathe and Ashish Tibriwala.

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