Friday, August 21, 2009

Muzumdar leaving home

Muzumdar is leaving 38 times Ranji holders Mumbai this season for minnows Assam. See here.
I do not to agree with his decision to leave Mumbai. His argument that playing for Assam will help reinvent himself as a batsman and captain seems inadequate. In Ranji Trophy cricket, earning a Mumbai call up is equivalent to earning the baggy green in Australia. I believe any player if given the option would like to be the 12th man wearing the baggy green than be the captain of minnow side. There is surely more to this than meets the eye.
As an ardent Mumbai cricket fan, I am deeply saddened by the prospect of not seeing Mazumdar in the starting line up this next time when Mumbai step out on Wankhede to defend their title and to earn their record 39th title. Although batsmen like Jaffer, Rahane and Sharma will ensure that batting department is looked after well, the abscence of Mazumdar is bound to be felt. He was the Prodigal son of Mumbai cricket and we fans have always looked upon him to deliver the goods when the time had come.
Although his role in the lineup was similar to Dravid's role in the Indian team, I will not call him as 'The Wall' or 'Dravid'of Mumbai. It was due to sheer luck that out of Dravid and Muzumdar, both batsmen of immensely great talent, Dravid got the call ahead of Muzumdar. Dravid capitalised on his goods and Muzumdar never got a look in later. God knows had Muzumdar got a call before Dravid, he would have ended up being the Wall. He is probably the best example of the abundance of talent in Mumbai cricket. He was the batsman who sat padded up for 3 days continuously in the dressing room because Tendulkar and Kambli were out there scoring a record 350 partnership in the school league (they all were schoolmates and played for the team). He is probably one of the few players in the world who could have warranted a place in any international side in the world. Ironically he is also one of the rare few of them who did not get to represent any.
He is 31 runs away from being the all times highest run scorer in Ranji Trophy history. I pray that he achieves this record at the earliest and hopefully sometime in the future retrns to play one last time for his home - Mumbai

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