The Hindu : Sport : Rest of India starts favourite in Irani Cup

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Rest of India starts favourite in Irani Cup

Nandakumar Marar

— Photo: PTI

GETTING READY: Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma and teammates going through their paces at the VCA Stadium.

NAGPUR: Mumbai, without experienced hands — Sachin Tendulkar, Abhishek Nayar and Zaheer Khan — will be hard-pressed to stretch Rest of India to the fifth day in the Irani Cup.

Coach Praveen Amre, forced to opt out at the last minute due to malaria, is another familiar face missing for the five-day tie commencing on Thursday at the VCA Stadium.

Wasim Jaffer, captaining the Ranji champion squad, put up a brave front. “Rest can draw the best players from all over India and so have always been powerful in Irani Cup. Mumbai is getting an opportunity as the champion State, so our players should make the most of it,” said Jaffer.

Referring to Sushant Marathe, Prashant Naik and Omkar Khanvilkar being discussed as options to replace long-serving Amol Muzumdar, he said: “this is the game to make a mark at the start of their career.”

Jaffer had figured in the Irani Cup tie last season for Rest of India under Anil Kumble, scored a half-century as an opener and then watched a virtual India line-up smother a fighting Delhi in four days.

“Mumbai was not the champion last time, so I batted for the Rest. This time we are the champion and have prepared for the Irani Cup with practice matches in Baroda and at the CCI. It is unfortunate that the person (Amre) who planned the preparations is not here to take it forward.”

Irfan Pathan’s absence in the Rest bowling attack is the only relief for the Mumbai skipper. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is named as replacement in the 14-member squad.

Yashpal Sharma, playing dual roles as National selector and Rest cricket manager, expressed ignorance about the exact reason for the player’s absence, as did captain Virender Sehwag, who views the Irani Cup as a timely opportunity to assess his recovery.

The teams (from):

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (capt.), M. Vijay, S. Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Abhinav Mukund, Sudeep Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Uday Kaul. Manager: Yashpal Sharma.

Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (capt.), Ajit Agarkar, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Prashant Naik, Vinayak Samant (wk), Ramesh Powar, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhaval Kulkarni, Rahil Shaikh, Murtuza Hussain, Sushant Marathe, Saurabh Netravalkar and Omkar Khanvilkar. Coach: Satish Samant.

Umpires: Amish Saheba, Shavir Tarapore. TV umpire: Sanjay Hazare. Match referee: K.P. Bhaskar.

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