Foreign hands fail to come good

An Australian coach and two imported players 8212; one of them a former West Zone skipper. Expectations, expectedly, were huge from the Mah...

An Australian coach and two imported players 8212; one of them a former West Zone skipper. Expectations, expectedly, were huge from the Maharashtra Ranji team at the start of the season.

Five rounds down the line, the performance, sadly, leaves much to be desired. With just four points so far, Maharashtra now struggle to avoid relegation into the Plate Group.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra reached the nadir when they handed Karnataka five points 8212; including one bonus 8212; after being beaten by an innings and eight runs, with a day8217;s play still left in the match.

It was Sourav Ganguly8217;s 159 8212; and Dheeraj Jadhav8217;s absence owing to his selection in the Board President8217;s XI team 8212; that played spoilsport in Maharashtra8217;s quest for a win at home in the first round.

Against Gujarat, Maharashtra lost 8216;8216;closely8217;8217;, while in Round IV, against Delhi, 8216;8216;bad umpiring decision combined with the toss8217;8217; played a role in the course of the match. That8217;s how coach Darren Holder puts it. However, he adds in the same breath: 8216;8216;That cannot be an excuse.8217;8217;

The team tasted the much-eluding success, stunning Tamil Nadu with an outright win at Nashik. With four points, it was a relief for Maharashtra, considering Delhi were lying low with two. Praising the team8217;s performance at Nashik, Holder said: 8216;8216;Match awareness has increased. The boys have understood the processes to be successful.8217;8217;

However, that was till Round IV. Delhi8217;s thrilling win over Railways, and Maharashtra8217;s shocking loss to Karnataka 8212; in Round V 8212; has reversed equations.

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With next matches against Railways who also have four points and Mumbai, Maharashtra need to notch a win in the remaining rounds to remain in the Elite Group.

Chief selector Pandurang Salgaoncar has already expressed concern for the batting line-up which has let the team down. 8216;8216;Batting is definitely a concern,8217;8217; he said, adding: 8216;8216;The team definitely will not be the same for Railways match. We will decide the team on Dec 31.8217;8217;

A look at what went wrong with the team

OPENING BLUES: The opening partnership has so far contributed very little. First it was the Mansingh Nigde-Dheeraj Jadhav combination. But the team decided on dropping Nigde 8212; a debutant 8212; and since then wicketkeeper Satyajit Satbhai has been handed the responsibility with Jadhav.

Partnerships: Vs Bengal: 20 038; 42; Vs Gujarat: 35 038; 25; Vs Delhi: 3 038; 72; Vs TN: 54 038; 38; and Vs Karnataka: 45 038; 84.

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JADHAV FACTOR: 8216;8216;We don8217;t rely on any particular individual. All have to perform as a team,8217;8217; is Holder8217;s theory. But over dependence on Dheeraj Jadhav was quite obvious when he was asked to do duty for the Board President8217;s XI against Sri Lanka earlier in December. Incidentally, Jadhav8217;s ton was instrumental in helping Maharashtra beat Tamil Nadu at Nashik. Later, Holder was of the opinion: 8216;8216;He has a good game; I want him to keep doing that consistently.8217;8217;

CAPTAIN8217;S ROLE: It is said that captains lead by example. However a look at his individual performance belies this. So far Hrishikesh Kanitkar has scored 298 runs which includes an unbeaten 56 at Nashik 8212; and an inconsequential 73 at Delhi. State8217;s strike bowler, incidentally, has scored more than 200 runs.

KANITKAR8217;S SCORES: Vs Bengal: 7 038; 48; Vs Gujarat: 24 038; 38; Vs Delhi: 17 038; 73; Vs TN: 16 038; 56 no; Vs Karnataka: 6 038; 20

MIDDLE-ORDER LETDOWN: The team, apparently, realised this and dropped Abhijit Kale, once known as the Maharashtra 8216;8216;run-machine8217;8217;. Although his ousting did yield result 8212; with the state winning their first match at Nashik 8212; it was the contribution from the top four batsmen 245 runs which played a role in the result. At Bangalore, it is less said the better, with our middle-order contributing 33 and 23 runs in both the innings.