New Delhi: Having won its maiden Ranji Trophy last season, Railways is looking to add one more feather to its cap as it takes on Rest of India in the Irani Cup cricket match starting at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Tuesday.
Railways has had a glorious run in the last two years, reaching the Ranji Trophy final on each occasion. And if its performance against the touring West Indians in the three-day tour match is anything to go by, the six-month gap between the end of the previous season and the start of current one hardly seems to have affected the players' form. "I have told the players that what ever happened last year is history. This is a new season and we have to start afresh again," said Railways' coach Vinod Sharma. The match against the Caribbeans turned out to be a boon for Sharma, in that he was able to discover two stopgap opening batsmen accidentally. With Amit Pagnis fracturing his thumb during practice on the morning of the match and J P Yadav injuring his middle finger while fielding, Sharma asked Murali Kartik and Shreyas Khanolkar - both lower order batsmen -- to open the innings. "I was confident of them doing well because both had played the second new ball well in the past couple of years," Sharma said. His hunch turned out right as Khanolkar and Kartik went on to make 167 runs for the opening wicket, the former scoring a century in 92 balls. That has left Sharma "sleepless for the last two nights" on deciding the playing eleven. The all-round aspect has been the unique character of this Railways team that had defeated tough opponents like Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Baroda in the knockout stages last year. The last three wickets have consistently contributed 200 runs with players like Kartik, Kulamani Parida and Harvinder Singh adding useful runs regularly. "I am really lucky to be coaching this team. The players, coming from various parts of the country, have shown tremendous team spirit. They are aware of their responsibility and work hard towards their success," Sharma said. But captain Abhay Sharma is aware of the team's weakness. "Our middle order has to produce more runs. We should not be leaving it to the tail-enders too often," he said. The inclusion of Jacob Martin should solve much of its problem. Martin joined Railways last year but since he had played a match for Baroda already by that time, he had to wait for his transfer till the new season. The Rest of India, led by the dashing Yuvraj Singh and containing some established names, is also a formidable unit. In the 42-year history of the Cup, Rest of India has lost to six different opponents, with Mumbai getting the better of them on 14 occasions. The dates of the match overlap with that of the third Test between India and West Indies - which starts on Wednesday in Kolkata - and it could mean less attention for this encounter.
Tags: cricket, new delhi, ranji trophy, rest of india, irani cup, karnail singh stadium, ranji trophy, coach vinod sharma, caribbeans, amit pagnis, j p yadav, murali kartik, shreyas khanolkar, kulamani parida, harvinder singh, abhay sharma, jacob martin, yuvraj singh.
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