MUMBAI, February 4: Mumbai's assembly-line production of quality players has ensured that the absence of several key men would not affect the balance of their composition for their opening Ranji Trophy Super League encounter against Railways.Mumbai are sure about their quality. What they are unsure is about the opposition. As Mumbai coach Balwinder Sandhu opined: "They (Railways) are an unknown quantity."
The four-day contest between the two teams at the Wankhede Stadium tomorrow is their first-ever meeting in the history of the National Championship of cricket.
Despite the absence of batsmen Wasim Jaffer, Jatin Paranjpe, all-rounder Ajit Agarkar and leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule (all four are doing duty for India A in Pakistan), the defending champions pack enough muscle in their side to flaunt the tag of pre-match favourites.
The Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai side boasts of Vinod Kambli, Sanjay Manjrekar, Amol Muzumdar and Amit Pagnis, in the high-profile batting department while pacemen ParasMhambrey, Abey Kuruvilla and left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni provide a touch of international class to the attack.
"Our goals remain the same as last year," remarked Sandhu while dwelling upon his team's build-up for the defence of the Ranji Trophy. "Our effort is to gain maximum points so that we bypass the quarter-final stage, which we had managed to do last season," he explained.
However, the task before Mumbai and Sandhu will be relatively difficult this year as the arrival of the Australians would see the loss of a few of its heavyweights for the Tests. With Jaffer, Paranjpe, Agarkar and Bahutule still in Pakistan, the additional loss will be particularly severe when Mumbai take on the formidable challenge of Karnataka and Punjab in their last two Super League matches.
"We are aware of the scenario before us. Which is why we realise that we will have to win outright against Railways and Orissa in order to attain our goal," he opined.
Railways' skipper Sanjay Bangar, a 25-year-old all-rounder, islooking at the match against Mumbai as the best opportunity for his players to gain national recognition. "If any one of us performs well here (at Wankhede Stadium) he has every chance of getting noticed in the national circuit," he observed.
The Mumbai-bred Bangar, who attained cricketing baptism at Shivaji Park, was however candid in his admission when he said that his side go into the match as "underdogs."
"But we won't be bogged down by the status of the opposition. We are going to give off our best."
Bangar's face lit up when quizzed about the Wankhede track. "It appears to be in favour of the fast bowlers. My bowlers should appreciate the bounce after bowling on the flat tracks in the zone," he said.
Bangar heads the batting division, assisted by his deputy Prahlad Rawat, Yere Gowda, Satyendra Yadav -- all of whom have been among the runs in the league matches.
The Railways' attack, however, is hampered by the absence of left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, who is touring Pakistan with the India Asquad. But in Zakir Hussain, Javed Zaman (both medium-pacers), Kulamani Parida and M Suresh (spinners), Railways possess an adequate strike-force.
Railways drew the West Zone champions in the Super League after ending up second in the Central Zone league with 19 points, behind leaders Madhya Pradesh (20). Uttar Pradesh was the third team to qualify with 14 points. Mumbai have left out left-hand opener Rajesh Sutar, left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar and medium-pacer Manish Patel from the twelve.
Railways, on the other hand, will be naming their eleven tomorrow.
THE TEAMS
Mumbai (from): Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Amit Pagnis, Sulakshan Kulkarni (wicket-keeper), Vinod Kambli, Sanjay Manjrekar, Amol Muzumdar, Atul Ranade, Paras Mhambrey, Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni, Faisal Shaikh, Mandar Phadke. Coach: Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
Railways (from): Sanjay Bangar (captain), Prahlad Rawat (vice-captain), Satyendra Yadav, Zufri Zakaria (wicket-keeper), Yere Gowda, Arvind Kapoor, MSuresh, Suresh Kumar, Kulamani Parida, Zakir Hussain, Jaswinder Singh, Javed Zaman, Javed Alam, Vishal Sharma and Saket Bhatia. Coach: Habib Khan.
Umpires: Harnarain Singh Sekhon (Punjab) & AK Bhardwaj (Delhi)
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
