Mumbai meet MP in semi-final clash

CUTTACK, JAN 13: Smarting under their failure to qualify for the Ranji Trophy Super League, Mumbai will seek to prove a point or two when...

CUTTACK, JAN 13: Smarting under their failure to qualify for the Ranji Trophy Super League, Mumbai will seek to prove a point or two when they meet Madhya Pradesh Wills Trophy semi-final match at the Barabati Stadium here tomorrow.

Led by Test discard Vinod Kambli, whose ankle injury caused on the same Barabati turf had kept him out of the game for several months last year, Mumbai has a clutch of talented youngsters capable of snatching a win.

Madhya Pradesh, who comprehensively defeated Wills XI in the quarter-final match at Agartala by 62 runs, are also expected to perform well.

There are several cricketers in both teams who have been on the fringe of national selection for quite some time. With the national selection committee slated to meet at Calcutta on Friday to pick the 30 probables for the ensuing World Cup in England, they would be hoping to clinch places with solid performances here.

The presence of the experienced Chandrakant Pandit in the Madhya Pradesh ranks could inspire the team though most of their players had limited experience in the one-day variety of the game.

The Mumbai top order batting appeared strong on paper inspite of the absence of master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Besides Kambli, it had Amol Muzumdar, Pravin Amre, Jatin Paranjpe, Sairaj Bahutule and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe. The team also had the added advantage of having several all rounders.

However, eyes would be on the Madhya Pradesh dasher, Amay Khurasia whose strokeful 70, enabled his team to defeat Wills XI.

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Khurasia would look for support from Jay Prakash Yadav, Santosh Sahu, CP Sahu and Abbas Ali.

A lot would depend on MP new ball bowlers HS Sodhi and H Sudhir who had a splendid spell capturing six for 34 against Wills XI.

The Teams

Mumbai: Vinod Kambli (capt), Sairaj Bahutule (vice-capt), Rajesh Sutar, Manoj Joglekar, Pravin Amre, Jatin Paranjpe, Amol Muzumdar, Nilesh Kulkarni, Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambre, Sameer Dighe, Amit Dane, Atul Ranade and Wasim Jaffer.

Madhya Pradesh: Rajesh Chouhan (capt), Narendra Hirwani (vice-capt), Amay Khurasia, JP Yadav, Abbas Ali, Debendra Rai, Sunil Lahore, Manik Majithia, HS Sodhi, N Patwardhan, CP Sahu, Chandrakant Pandit, H Sudhir, Santosh Sahu and Raja Ali.

Umpires: G Pratap Kumar and KG Laxminarayan

Match Referee: GK Raman.