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Journalism of Courage
A day ahead of their clash against Assam,Shailender Gehlot of the Railways team amuses his team mates by juggling three cricket balls simultaneously at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Tuesday. The days practice is over and the Elite division match beginning on Wednesday is still some time away. Its something we learnt at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy. We were told that if we could learn juggling,then surely cricket should not be difficult at all, he says,explaining the trick.
But while the juggling comes easy,cricket,though,has been anything but easy for Railways this season so far. They managed to salvage a draw against Gujarat in their season-opening match but not before being forced to follow on in the 1st innings and losing losing eight wickets in the second not a great beginning for a team,especially playing on home turf. It was a very poor performance. We were lucky to draw. We will have to improve not just in bowling or batting but in all positions across the the field, admitted Railways skipper Murali Kartik bluntly.
Railways coach Abhay Sharma,however,is confident of his team recovering and optimistic of their chances in the next game. While admitting that his players may have had a poor outing in the last match,Sharma adds that they have had plenty of time to recover for the Assam game. Even Delhi have started (the season) with just one point. The season is long and I am not going to chop players on the basis of one match, he said.
But even though the coach may not be revealing too much about his teams plans,his choice of wicket makes it clear who is going to be his trump card for the next game.
Railways first match was played on a surface with plenty of grass on it,one that was supposed to give plenty of assistance to the seamers; the game against Assam will be played on a pitch that already sports plenty of cracks a dream wicket for skipper Kartik. Rank turner
Such a surface might also see the team management deciding to play a second spinner either Kulamani Parida or Marripuri Suresh after going in with three seamers in the last match.
Last match,we were playing for an outright result,so we went in with a green-top wicket,but we scarcely made use of the conditions. Our bowlers bowled too short and did not force the opponents to play. This time,we are going to go with a turning track, Sharma added.
Assam,who earned promotion to the Elite division only last year,have not had it great either. They seemed to have been cast in the deep end of the pool straightaway,starting with a crushing seven-wicket to Tamil Nadu in their opener. The only good thing for them from that match was the fact that Tamil Nadu were unable to get the bonus point,and the fact that Railways seem to be even lower on confidence than themselves.
Their coach Subhadeep Ghosh said the teams problems lay more in the batting than the bowling. We have players who got starts in the game against Tamil Nadu but were unable to continue. We have to realise that we are playing in the Elite Division now. In the Plate we could relax because the opposition was not able to keep up the pressure. In Elite,the pressure is relentless.
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