The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘First session will be crucial’

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Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
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Sport - Cricket

‘First session will be crucial’

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Murali Kartik and Parthiv Patel, who were left out of India’s current tour to Australia, will lead Indian Railways and Gujarat respectively in the Ranji Trophy Plate final 2007-08 beginning on Saturday at the Brabourne Stadium.

The climb back to the Elite League has been difficult for Railways, a former Ranji Trophy champion. The loss of key players Jai Prakash Yadav, Tejinder Pal Singh and Shreyas Khanolkar to the Indian Cricket League this season forced the induction of new faces into the side.

Railways’ coach Abhay Sharma believes the first session is critical in final games, so will look to experienced hands Sanjay Bangar, Kulamani Parida and Harvinder Singh to provide the steadying influence in the five-day tie. Gujarat captain Parthiv , 23, though older in terms of ability to juggle responsibility and performance, is adept in taking charge of situations. He leads a balanced unit, destructive batsmen like him complementing wicket-taking bowlers like paceman Siddharth Trivedi.

The teams (from): Indian Railways: Murali Kartik (captain), Sanjay Bangar (vice-captain), Amit Pagnis, Siddharth Joshi, Harshad Rawle, Sanjib Sanyal, Mahesh Rawat (wk.), Karan Sharma, Raja Ali, Harvinder Singh, Kulamani Parida, Santosh Saxena, Madan Yadav, Rahul Deb, Sabir Ali.

Coach: Abhay Sharma. Manager: Randhir Singh

Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (wk/captain), Nilesh Modi, Rajesh Tabiar, Niraj Patel, Bhavin Thaker, Digant Popat, Timil Patel, Mohnish Parmar, Amit Singh, Ashraf Makda, Siddharth Trivedi, Nilesh Chaudhary, Hitesh Majumdar, Hem Joshipura, Jay Desai, Anant Brahmabhatt.

Coach: Ashok Patel. Umpires: C.R. Mohite, Pratap Kumar. Match Referee: D. Vasu