Two years ago,when Rajasthan prepared for another season in the Ranji Trophy Plate division,a debate over squad composition raged through informal state association meetings. Some members,including then secretary Sanjay Dixit,wanted to hire a group of outstation professionals to strengthen the team. Initially,there was resistance,people saying that local players would be denied opportunities, recalls Dixit. I said,either you have 11 locals and finish last,or you have eight,and give them a chance of being among the best. It was an easy option in the end. The story of what happened next is too familiar for it to astonish anyone anymore. Rajasthan didnt just top their Plate group; they went ahead and won the Ranji Trophy,came back the next season and defended their title. This wouldnt have been possible without the three professionals they hired. Rajasthan werent the first team to look outside the state to augment their squad. But they were more prudent than most. There are two kinds of professionals. One kind is there for the money,and the other for honour, says Dixit. The three we went for Aakash (Chopra),(Hrishikesh) Kanitkar,(Rashmi Ranjan) Parida had a common link. Their home associations didnt want them,and they all wanted to prove a point. All three,moreover,plugged an obvious gap in the existing squad. I had sat down with (cricket director) Tarak Sinha and analysed our squad. Our bowlers were getting wickets,but successful Ranji teams had always outbatted their opponents, says Dixit. We needed three good batsmen - one to provide stability at the top,and two in the middle order. Kanitkar,Chopra and Parida ended Rajasthans 2010-11 season as their top three run-getters. But their job didnt end there. It was a slightly bigger role for the three of us than just putting the runs on the table, says Chopra. We had to show the other players the way. Sometimes,we had to carry the team with us; sometimes it was about instilling self-belief in the rest,so that someone who had been scoring 450 runs a season would now score 850 or 900. Heading to HP This season,Chopra will turn out for Himachal Pradesh,who are in Group C of the Ranji Trophy the equivalent of the Plate division in a rejigged format. Once again,he is one of three outstation pros the others are all-rounder C Ganapathy and left-handed batsman C Hemanth Kumar. Chopra himself played a role in signing up the former Tamil Nadu duo. After much deliberation,we went with Ganapathy,who is quite an asset. Hes a seam-up bowler,so will be ideal in our conditions,and can bat really well in the lower order, says Chopra. Hemanth has not been getting any opportunities for a while (he hasnt played a first class match since December 2005). We needed a middle order batsman to hold the team with the likes of Paras Dogra and Amit Kumar and Rishi Dhawan. Hemanth is doing very well in the TNCA league (he averages 78.27 this season,with four centuries),and we hope he carries that form here. Does this scenario remind Chopra of Rajasthan circa 2010? As of now,we dont know. We have a lot of talented players from the under-19 and under-25 level and in the senior team as well. The attempt is to get them to graduate to the next level. Seniors like Paras Dogra,Vikramjeet Malik and Prashant Chopra will play a role,as will myself,Hemanth Kumar and Ganapathy, he says. The first goal is to finish in the top two in the group,and take it one game at a time from there. It wont be easy to get into the quarters,but if we manage it,its job well done.
