The Hindu : Sport : Irani Cup: a chance for the hopefuls

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Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
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Sport

Irani Cup: a chance for the hopefuls

G. Viswanath

Manoj Tiwary and Suresh Raina set to make their return from injury
Munaf Patel, Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma and Yomahesh make up RoI’s pace attack

Rajkot: Yet another domestic season will kick off on Saturday when Rest of India takes on the Ranji Trophy champion Mumbai in the 45th Irani Cup at the Madhavrao Scindia stadium here. It will offer another opportunity to all those aspiring to make it to the national squad.

The two teams kept themselves busy during a final full-fledged nets session under a scorching October sun here on Friday. The opening first class match of the season is significant as the players will get daily earnings of Rs. 36,000. More than a dozen players from the Mumbai and Rest of India camps are already assured of a substantial sum having been placed under the BCCI annual central contracts.

The players can now direct their energy on getting off to a bright start in order to be noticed by the selectors in view of the long and exacting season ahead, the highlight of which would be India’s tour of Australia from mid-December.

Unlucky duo

At least two in the Rest of India team, Manoj Tiwary and Suresh Raina, have been unlucky. Set to make his international debut in Bangladesh five months ago, Tiwary damaged his shoulder during the camp in Kolkata. Raina twisted his ankle in a one-day competition to be rendered out of action for months. Both have undergone surgery and a long period of rehabilitation.

Tamil Nadu’s middle-order bat S. Badrinath can be assumed to be in the running for India selection. Last year he made 80 against a good seam attack in the Irani Cup at Nagpur and impressed Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the national selection committee.

Seamer Munaf Patel, called an ‘enigma’ by Vengsarkar, has to prove a lot to regain the selectors’ confidence. The selectors have been baffled by Munaf’s declining speed.

Pace pack

Munaf, Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma and Yomahesh form the pace pack in the Rest side that skipper Mohammad Kaif would like to deploy. He’s waiting for a word from the selectors though.

Meanwhile, Amol Muzumdar, the Mumbai skipper, is eager to face the task ahead of him with courage. “This is my fifteenth year in first class cricket, and I am fortunate to guide a fresh set of young Mumbai cricketers. Mumbai won the Buchi Babu tournament and the Mohammad Nissar Trophy in Karachi. So the team has been together. We had a three-day preparatory nets session in Mumbai,” said Muzumdar.

The teams: Rest of India: M. Kaif (captain), A. Chopra, C. Pujara, S. Raina, M. Tiwary, S. Badrinath, P. Patel (wk), A. Yadav, M. Patel, I. Sharma, R. Bose, V. Yomahesh, P. Ojha, A. Mishra.

Mumbai: A. Muzumdar (captain), W. Jaffer, S. Kukreja, A. Rahane, P. Naik, A. Nayar, H. Shah, V. Mane, O. Gaurav (wk), A. Agarkar, A. Salvi, I. Abdulla, R. Verma, D. Kulkarni, V. Yelgatti, Ramesh Powar.

Umpires: K. Hariharan and S. Tarapore; Third: Rajiv Deshpande; Match Referee: Manu Nayar.

Play begins at 9.30 a.m.

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