Bowled And Beautiful

The difference, perhaps, was Agarkar, who played key roles in three crucial matches 8212; against Delhi, the semi-final against Baroda and the final. Two five wicket-hauls and two fifties stood testimony to his feats. His influence was 8216;8216;invaluable8217;8217;, said Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the selection committee. 8216;8216;It was nice of him to take time out from the grind of international cricket and join us8217;8217;, said team coach Chandrakant Pandit.

Agarkar himself pays tribute to his fellow bowlers, saying the fact that experienced Nilesh kulkarni had to sit out matches pointed to the quality of the attack see interview. Powar, who lives for and on cricket, claimed a handsome 26 wickets with his off-spin, emphasising his credentials for the national team 8212; sadly, his performances have so far failed to attract the selectors.

Bahutule, who also hasn8217;t found favour with the National selectors, however, offers a practical viewpoint. 8216;8216;If you do well for Mumbai the opportunities are going to come. You begin by playing Irani Trophy against the Rest of India or a game against visiting international teams.8217;8217;

The leg-spinner should know, having been in and out of the selectors favour in his decade-long career. This season, he led the bowling display for his team with 40 wickets he also scored 315 runs in nine matches. But the most special haul, he feels, was his 8-129 in the final against Tamil Nadu.

Salvi8217;s 28 victims from six matches got him a berth in the India A and National teams. And, when it mattered, the bowlers delivered with the bat, too. They may not have ended up with Bradmanesque averages but would vie for the top slot for sheer effectiveness. Most of the times, opponents were lulled into thinking they had Mumbai on the mat with the board reading 130-odd for five. But that would just be the beginning as mostly Mhambrey would play the role of a sheet-anchor, forging fruitful alliances with Bahutule who mixed caution with agression, Powar and the tail.

None was more effective than the stocky Powar who, coming at number nine or ten, hit one century and four fifties to log 536 runs and end up with an average of 46.44.

Powar and Bahutule need not worry about the big time, if national selector Kiran More is to be believed. 8216;8216;From a selector8217;s point of view, what matters is the quality of runs or wickets, the situation in which they have been acquired. For example, a double hundred on a flat track might lose out to a fighting 70 or 80 on a lively track,8217;8217; the former Test wicketkeeper said. Success was a long way from anyone8217;s mind when the season started, however. Even before Mumbai took to the crease, they8217;d been branded no-hopers, critics pointing 8212; justifiably, as it turned out 8212; to the brittle batting order and the lack of fight in the team.

The row between the Cricket Improvement Committee CIC and the Mumbai Cricket Association managing committee too took its toll when Lalchand Rajput, a member of the CIC resigned from the team coach8217;s post. Former Test 8217;keeper Pandit, who had guided the Mumbai under-19 side to the Cooch Behar trophy crown, was asked to step into Rajput8217;s shoes with the first match hardly a week away. Team Mumbai8217;s amazing turnaround began at Hyderabad and culminated, of course, at the Wankhede.

Mhambrey summed up the success well saying, 8216;8216;we knew we had the talent for it becoming champions. We indulged in a lot of self-analysis and dwelt on areas where we needed to work on. During match days we set small, realistic targets and moved slowly towards it. There were days when things went wrong but most of the time we did achieve what we had set out to.8217;8217;