The Hindu : Sport : Mumbai wary of Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 23, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Mumbai wary of Delhi

Special Correspondent

Narinder Singh in visitor’s eleven

— PHOTO: PTI

COOL AND DETERMINED: The Delhi captain Virender Sehwag (right) and his teammate Gautam Gambhir have their task cut out against the Ranji Trophy champion Mumbai.

Mumbai: Delhi and Mumbai, arch-rivals of the National championship since 1956, will lock horns at the Wankhede Stadium in the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group ‘A’ match here on Friday.

While Delhi announced that it will field off-spinner Narinder Singh, Mumbai hinted at the possibility of employing a wrist-spinner Bhavesh Patel against a crack batting outfit. Clearly, the pitch described by curator Sudhir Naik as hard, but given a deep crop, has compelled the teams to bring in an additional spinner. “Apart from the stock ball (leg-spin), he can bowl the googly and flipper. He’s a street smart cricketer and we are almost certain to play him,” said Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar.

Crucial match

Muzumdar’s counterpart, Virender Sehwag, flew into the city in the morning with Gautam Gambhir, and hit the road straight to the ‘D’ Road venue. After two league matches Mumbai and Delhi are on eight points and this match will be of vital interest to both as it would provide the first hints of their chances of advancing to the semifinals. Personally it may be a make-or-mar match for Sehwag, though, what with the dashing opener looking forward to clinch one of the three opener slots for the tour of Australia. Gambhir — picked for the full tour of England — and Aakash Chopra are Sehwag’s fellow teammates who themselves would be competing for a place in the Indian team. While Chopra had a long session in the nets — facing the likes of Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Bhandari and Rajat Bhatia and the spinners — Gambhir and Sehwag were the last two to have a decent hit against a set of tired bowlers.

Jaffer’s absence

The Delhi skipper refused to give an audience to the local press. On Wednesday, coach Vijay Dahiya acknowledged Wasim Jaffer’s prolific run scoring against Delhi and that Mumbai will miss him, but nonetheless he said that his team would be the underdog against a team playing in its backyard.