A healty trend with some headaches |
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Thursday December 28, 03:41 AM
Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Wasim Jaffer will play for Mumbai in their sixth and last league match of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, which begins on January 10.
This is certainly good news for Mumbai, who are already on a high after having collected an outright victory and a bonus point against Gujarat . At the same time, though, this is also the kind of news that seems to have thrown all their equations and strategies for the coming matches in a quagmire.
While any team would only be happier to have the services of players like Tendulkar and Zaheer, Mumbai's immediate resolve would be to make way for these players just when the current bunch-void of any stars - is beginning to make a mark.
Mumbai have another match to go, their fifth, before they take on Maharashtra in the last game at Nashik. The fifth match, though, will have to be played in the absence of any of these stars and happens to be a more crucial one, if the two are compared.
Ajit Agarkar, unfit until now, is also expected to be available for these last two encounters. "It is nice to have all these names but eventually it is winning that matters. If we have these players (stars) are available then it will bring around a competition among players which is always good," Mumbai coach Praveen Amre said after the match against Gujarat. While Mumbai do expect a huge relief with players like Tendulkar and Zaheer in the team, there is also the fear of disturbing a combination that has tried hard to focus on the job at hand. A healthy-headache could well be on the cards. In fact, Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar himself had emphasised on how it took the team three matches in all to finally come close to what they could now call a "good combination.''
"Nishit (Shetty) retired, Agarkar was injured and Jaffer was away. We had to do with what was available,'' Muzumdar said.
Tendulkar and Zaheer could win a match on their own for Mumbai but eventually - if Mumbai make it to the knockout round - they will have to carry on without the services of these players. A player like Abhishek Nair, just 22 years old, may have to make way for Ajit Agarkar while Vinayak Mane could warm the bench for none other than Tendulkar.
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