Challenge before the Big Test

While there was no news about India Senior captain Sourav Ganguly’s check-in time, coach John Wright was expected late tonight. Add to that the fact that there is hardly any opening in the Indian one-day squad and the picture seems quite gloomy.

But that is until one meets Laxmipathi Balaji and the Pathan brothers. Coming back after a long break, Balaji thinks this is a very important tournament for him. ‘‘This is my best opportunity to see how I stand the test. The injury has healed now and after three weeks of practice, I think I am ready,’’ he says in an excited tone. The same is true for Irfan Pathan, who too has a point to prove before the all-important series against Pakistan.

But for someone like Yusuf Pathan it is another high. After facing his more famous brother Irfan at the nets, Yusuf is candid enough to say that ‘‘this will be my first opportunity to play with a white ball.’’ Ask him if Irfan had some advice for him and the white ball thing comes up again. ‘‘He was showing me the way to grip the white ball. The seam is not as pronounced as as the red SG balls,’’ said Yusuf.

Coaches of India ‘A’ and India ‘B’ teams Ashok Malhotra and Lalchand Rajput too entered the arena in the evening. Malhotra was hoping that things will be different this time. As coach of the runners-up India ‘B’ at the last event, Malhotra joked that his promotion to the India ‘A’ would turn things around. ‘‘Luckily for me like the previous two times I have Rahul (Dravid) as the captain. First time we won, second we finished runners-up. We should not finish last this time,’’ Malhotra joked.

As the evening sun was just setting in the background, Harbhajan Singh appeared at the nets along with Gagandeep Singh and Mohammed Kaif. Harbhajan’s presence raised speculation that he might play in this event, before flying out to Australia for his corrective action.

There could not be any confirmation of the same till late in the evening in the absence of any official word.

Finally, sponsor found

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) finally found a sponsor for the Challenger Trophy. Reliance Mutual Fund came forward to support the tournament by promising Rs 5 lakhs. The sponsor was arranged by MCA through former Mumbai batsman Shishir Hattangadi’s marketing firm Straight Bats Consultants. Speaking to The Indian Express MCA joint-secretary Ratnakar Shetty was ‘‘relieved’’ that atleast a part of the amount had been arranged for. Though a sponsor has been arranged, there will be no telecast of any of the four matches beginning tomorrow.

CN

Teams:

India Seniors: Sourav Ganguly (capt), M S Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Neeraj Patel, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Gagandeep Singh, Rajesh Pawar and Shikhar Dhawan

India ‘A’: Rahul Dravid (capt), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Satyajit Parab, Dhiraj Yadav, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Murali Kartik, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, R P Singh, Yousuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa.

India ‘B’: Virender Sehwag (ct), Parthiv Patel (wk), Gautam Gambhir, Laxman, S Sriram, Rohan Gavaskar, Ramesh Powar, Joginder Sharma, A Nehra, S S Paul, Amit Bhandari and Ambati Tirupathi Rayudu.

TODAY’S GAME: India Seniors vs India A