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Shaun Udal has stood down from the Middlesex captaincy following his team’s poor start to the season and will be replaced by Adam Gilchrist for the next six games, after Gilchrist requested to extend the terms of his contract and play in Middlesex’s away

Cricinfo staff11-Jun-2010Shaun Udal has stood down from the Middlesex captaincy following his team’s poor start to the season and will be replaced by Adam Gilchrist for the next six games, after Gilchrist requested to extend the terms of his contract and play in Middlesex’s away games.Udal, 41, had taken over the captaincy in September 2008 but struggled last year, with Middlesex finishing second from bottom in the second division of the County Championship. Things have not improved this year with Middlesex winning just two out of nine games in the Championship and struggling in the Clydesdale Bank 40.It’s understood that Gilchrist, who was only due to play in home games for Middlesex, asked Angus Fraser, managing director of cricket at Middlesex, to play in more fixtures, which encouraged the club to hand him the captaincy while he was with the side. Neil Dexter will take over the captaincy after Gilchrist leaves, with his first game in charge being the Friends Provident t20 match away against Glamorgan on June 26.”Captaining Middlesex has been a huge honour for me,” said Udal. “There can be few better feelings than leading a team out at Lord’s and I have taken great pride in doing that over the course of the past three seasons.”Letting go of something like that is extremely difficult but Angus Fraser and I have agreed that this is the best way forward for the club. I would like to continue playing for Middlesex and will give my full support to both Adam Gilchrist and Neil Dexter.”Udal had retired from first-class cricket at the end of the 2007 season but in December of that year, aged 38, Middlesex persuaded him out of retirement with a two-year contract. Though he performed well with the ball last season, snaring 37 Championship wickets at 27.21, he has been less effective so far this year with 14 wickets at 44.14 from eight games.”Shaun cares passionately about how Middlesex performs and has worked extremely hard to turn the team in to a winning outfit but the indifferent cricket we continue to play has worn him down,” said Fraser. “Neil was identified as a worthy successor to Udal earlier in the season and he will captain the club once Adam Gilchrist leaves. Neil is an extremely impressive young man. He is a fine player and is highly respected by everyone at the club.”

A round-up of the fourth day’s action of the 2010 WCL Division One

Cricinfo staff05-Jul-2010It went down to the wire at Amstelveen as Afghanistan beat Kenya by one wicket off the final ball. Six were needed off the last over and there was further drama as Afghanistan lost their ninth wicket off the penultimate ball, but Shapoor Zadran hit the winning run to seal the game.Collins Obuya and Thomas Odoyo came good for Kenya, hitting half-centuries to take the score to 233. The captain Maurice Ouma made a patient 40 off 70 balls to help Kenya recover from a shaky 14 for 2. Obuya and Rakep Patel then added 72 for the fourth wicket before Patel was caught by Noor Ali, running forward from the boundary. Obuya made 60 before he was dismissed in the 43rd over, caught by the keeper Mohammad Shahzad off a top edge. Odoyo made a cameo unbeaten 52 off 33 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes to give the innings a late surge. Hassan was the main wicket-taker with 3 for 32.Afghanistan didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing three for 51 by the 11th over as the Odhiambos – Nelson and Nehemiah – took early wickets. Samiullah Shenwari then steadied the chase with a patient half-century, adding 72 with Azghar Stanikzai. Shem Ngoche got the breakthrough when Stanikzai edged to the keeper for 24. Afghanistan however lost the plot when they lost two more wickets in quick succession. Shenwari continued the repair work till the 41st over, before he was dismissed for 82, caught by Ouma down the leg side. Mohammad Nabi and Khaliq Dad took Afghanistan closer but Kenya hit back when Nabi’s big hit towards cow corner was taken by Patel inches off the rope.Hassan joined Dad in the 48th over and the pair almost took Afghanistan home, but Hassan succumbed to the pressure of the fielders crowding the infield, when the scores were level. The No.11 Zadran swept Jimmy Kamande past the fielders and that sparked big celebrations.Ouma, whose performance with bat and in the field won him the Man-of-the-Match award, was disappointed with the final result, but took heart from the way his team performed. “It’s very disappointing to lose a game like that especially as we gave it our all but there were plenty of positives to take from it from our side,” he said. “Collins Obuya and Thomas Odoyo batted really well and it was great to see them play so well, two senior players really leading from the front. Nehemiah Odhiambo bowled well and that is what we want from him as, together with Thomas, he is the spearhead of our attack.”In the end it was the little errors here and there that cost us and another defeat is not nice to take but there are three games left for us in this tournament and if we can continue to improve like we did today then we will be able to take plenty away from this tournament after all,” Ouma said.Ireland continued to show why they are rated the best of the Associates by picking up their third straight victory, a five-wicket win over Scotland in a low-scoring encounter in Voorburg. Kevin O’Brien was the hero for Ireland, dragging them over the finish line after the chase of 118 was floundering at 65 for 5, in the process going past 1000 ODI runs.O’Brien top scored with a patient, unbeaten 41 and was helped by opener Paul Stirling’s brisk 37 but the other four batsmen in the top six managed only three runs between them. Scotland’s hopes of remaining undefeated were dashed by an unbroken 55-run stand between O’Brien and John Mooney which took Ireland home in the 35th over.The victory was set up by the bowlers. Scotland’s top order turned in a limp performance to be at 40 for 5 in the 20th over before Neil McCallum and wicketkeeper Dougie Lockhart put on 59 runs for the sixth wicket to at least ensure a three-figure target. McCallum battled for more than two hours but once he became the seventh Scotland wicket, his side folded in a hurry. There was no one stand-out bowler for Ireland, with Trent Johnston and Nigel Jones bagging two wickets each while three others captured one apiece.O’Brien, who won the Man-of-the-Match award, was delighted with his landmark. “It is obviously an achievement. They’re all hard-fought runs against some very good teams around the world. It is a good one to know and hopefully I can just build on it for the future for the next couple of years, including the ICC Cricket World Cup next year in the subcontinent.”Gordon Drummond, the losing captain admitted the defeat was a reality check for his side and hoped to lift in the upcoming match. He said: “We knew it was a difficult wicket to bat on. I think 150 or 160 would have been an interesting chase as there would have been more pressure on the batsmen to score quicker,” Drummond said.”We got five wickets but once the ball got softer, batting became much easier. Also, the bowlers didn’t bowl consistently and missed the right areas otherwise we might have taken 10 wickets. It’s a reality check for us and I don’t think we have played as well as we can. I think the best is yet to come from us and hopefully we’ll be able to put together for the next game against Kenya,” he said.In Rotterdam, Netherlands cruised to a seven-wicket win over Canada thanks to opener Eric Szwarczynski’s unbeaten 84. Canada are still searching for their first victory after their batsmen again failed to put up a substantial total.After choosing to bat, only three of their batsmen made it to double-digits, but captain Ashish Bagai again shone with his second half-century of the tournament. Bagai was assisted by an aggressive 34 from Geoff Barnett and a 27 from No.9 Calvert Hooper as he shepherded Canada to 168 before becoming the last man to be dismissed. Mark Jonkman and Bradley Kruger were the most successful bowlers for the home side, taking three wickets each.The Netherlands chase had an early hiccup when Tom de Grooth was lbw to Hooper, but Szwarczynski compiled 91 for the second wicket with Tom Cooper to virtually end Canada’s chances. They were a couple of quick wickets in the 90s, but Bas Zuiderent’s unbeaten 35 helped Szwarczynski confirm the victory.

Mahela Jayawardene has said that Sri Lanka’s bowlers will attack the Indian batsmen on the third day at the SSC

Sa'adi Thawfeeq at the SSC27-Jul-2010Mahela Jayawardene has said that Sri Lanka’s bowlers will attack the Indian batsmen on the third day at the SSC. “We’ve got the runs on the board so we will attack,” Jayawardene said. “We know that they have some quality batsmen who can bat for a long time.”Today being a short session, we bowled to an attacking field and Viru [Virender Sehwag] got out of it a bit. We’ll try and frustrate as much as we can. We need to put a lot of effort. The wicket is still good and we need to be smart about it.”Sri Lanka have four changes to the bowling line-up that won them the first Test in Galle but Jayawardene was confident the new-look attack could do the job. “The two fast bowlers with the old ball will reverse quite a bit. That’s why we are playing them. They’ve got pace as well. Suraj [Randiv] I think was a bit nervous today playing his first Test. He’s very dangerous especially if he gets bounce on this wicket. I know [Ajantha] Mendis is very eager to do well here.”Jayawardene said the difference between past SSC wickets and the present one was it was hard and had more bounce. “The ball seems to come on much better and obviously at SSC the first two-three days is pretty good for batting. Later on it will probably spin more and hopefully the bounce will remain the same.”Jayawardene with his captain Kumar Sangakkara created a new Sri Lanka record for the highest number of century partnerships in Tests. Their stand of 193 for the third wicket was the 12th instance they have put together over a hundred runs. It beat the previous record of eleven by Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga.”We complement each other. Being right and left-handers we get more opportunities. Bowlers can’t get into a rhythm. Both of us are more attacking as well. Earlier in our careers we were a lot (more) defensive. Now we attack and put pressure on the bowlers,” Jayawardene said. “Kumar batted well. He took a lot of pressure off me early in the morning. After his hundred he was aggressive. I had an opportunity because of that to play my way.”Jayawardene also reached another milestone in his illustrious career when he surpassed Don Bradman’s record of nine Test hundreds at one venue (Melbourne). Jayawardene’s knock of 174 was his tenth century at the SSC. “He’s played what, ten Tests at the MCG. That’s Sir Don for you. I needed 23 Tests. That caps it off, I am pleased that I have got the record but I don’t think we can compare what he has achieved with what we are doing right now. He’s a legend.”It’s a moment for me to remember. I love playing on my home ground. I grew up playing here. It’s always fun to play in front of club members and all the fans. You have to be very humble when you break something like Sir Don’s record.”Jayawardene said that missing out on a double hundred did not worry him too much.
“We knew that 600 would be our benchmark to declare. We knew we needed more time to get India out. I was too tired. With the field MS (Dhoni) set, it was difficult for me to get runs quickly. We had a chat at the tea break and decided to try to get to where we had planned. In a team cause, you can’t have regrets like that. I guess I will get my opportunities.”

Disciplined bowling followed by a strong batting performance enabled Gujarat to defeat Baroda by six wickets in the Nairobi tri-series final

Cricinfo staff10-Aug-2010
ScorecardDisciplined bowling followed by a strong batting performance enabled Gujarat Cricket Association XI to defeat Baroda Cricket Association XI by six wickets in the Nairobi tri-series final.Electing to field first, Gujarat’s bowlers led by Salil Yadav and Siddharth Trivedi struck regularly to leave Baroda struggling at 133 for 6, including the wicket of Yusuf Pathan for 31. It was only due to a 67-run seventh-wicket stand between Jyot Chhaya and Arvind Chauhan that Baroda recovered to 235 for 9. Chhaya top-scored with 45 off 61 deliveries, including three boundaries and a six. Yadav took 4 for 39 while Trivedi took 2 for 31.Gujarat began their chase on a poor note as both their openers were run out for single-digit scores. Captain Niraj Patel and Pratharesh Parmar then combined in an 88-run stand for the third wicket. Parmar was more aggressive, taking only 83 balls for his 78. However, two quick wickets brought Baroda back into the game, with Gujarat still needing 94 runs at that stage. However, Patel and Bhargav Merai ensured there were no further hiccups for Gujarat as they shared an unbroken 94-run stand for the fifth wicket. Merai was unbeaten on 58 off 65 deliveries while Patel played a patient knock of 80 off 110, as Gujarat were comfortable winners after losing to Baroda twice in the league stage.

Gloucestershire have released Steve Kirby from the final two years of his contract after he requested the chance to play Division One Championship cricket to push his England claims

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2010Gloucestershire have released Steve Kirby from the final two years of his contract after he requested the chance to play Division One Championship cricket to push his England claims.Kirby, 32, has been with Gloucestershire for six years having joined from Leicestershire and has reached as far as England Lions honours with his pace bowling, but wants to give the chance of a full international career one more push even though that remains an outside possibility. This season hasn’t been prolific for Kirby with 29 wickets at 28.79 from 10 Championship matches.”This decision has not been an easy one, especially given the fact that I had been awarded a benefit next year but I am very ambitious and still have the desire and hunger to win things and to achieve my dream of one day playing for England,” Kirby said. “I don’t want to finish my career with any regrets and wonder what might have been. I definitely have unfinished business and there are many things I still want to achieve in this game.”The club are making plans to introduce a number of young players into the squad for next season with the county providing a strong influx to the England Under-19 set-up. Gloucestershire’s hopes of promotion to Division One were virtually ended by their defeat to Derbyshire despite removing the opposition for 44 in their first innings.”We are not going to stand in Steve’s way now that he has expressed a wish to continue his career elsewhere,” Tom Richardson, the chief executive, said. ” He has done very well for us over six seasons on the field and has made a big contribution. We want to thank him for his service to the club and wish him well for the future.”Plans were already in place to rejuvenate the squad by signing some younger players over the next couple of years and we will bring these forward. We have had five players represent England Under-19s over the past two years and Steve’s departure will create further opportunities for these younger players.”

Following the latest match-fixing allegations to emerge on Sunday Yasir Hameed attended the Pakistan High Commission in London to explain his comments. He spent four hours with officials before issuing this statement

Cricinfo staff05-Sep-2010I would like to respond to comments attributed to me by the News of the World today. I wish to stress I have never been approached by the NOTW and neither did I approach anyone connected with the to disclose any allegations concerning the Pakistan cricket team or any other players.The incident which was largely inaccurately reported in the News of the World today was when I was having dinner with a friend at the Holiday Inn Nottingham on the evening of Monday 30th August 2010. I was then approached by a man who introduced himself as Abid Khan and offered that he would arrange a sponsorship deal for me with ETIHAD Airways. I have now seen a photograph of the so called Abid Khan and have discovered that he is Mazhar Mahmood.Naturally I was interested in what he had to say and we began conversation. He offered me at least £50,000 for the deal, which was for 6″x3″ ETIHAD sticker at the back of the cricket bat plus TV and billboard advertisements in the UAE. He also asked me for names of 4 more players who may be interested in a similar deal I thought of Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam.I also called Umar Gul during this conversation to tell him about this potential contract deal and he agreed that I should continue with the negotiations.
Then Abid Khan started asking about the current match fixing allegations and as I saw him as a friend and a potential agent I naively started to answer his questions. He asked me about the match fixing allegations against the current 3 Pakistani players and if I had any further knowledge. As far as I can recall I only told him whatever I had already read in the newspapers about this matter.It seems that Abid had a hidden camera which I was totally unaware of.
I then left the hotel with my friend and came back to where I was staying. Two days later Abid then called me and offered me £25,000 to give a statement against the 3 current players under investigation, which I immediately refused and put the phone down. I neither called nor answered any calls from Abid after this conversation. When News of the World released my conversation, which Abid Khan recorded without me knowing about it, I was contacted by the media in Pakistan to confirm if I gave the statement to the NOTW, I denied categorically as explained above that this was not the case. Subsequently, I received a text message from Abid Khan from his number 0** **** ***6, which I found to be intimidating as reflected in his message reproduced below:However, I decided not to respond or react. I brought the matter to the attention of PCB.

While most major teams are finalising their preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan cricket’s internal discord continues to divert attention off the field. Can they turn the corner against South Africa?

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya25-Oct-2010

Series Facts

October 26 and 27, Abu Dhabi

Start time 20:00 (16:30 GMT)Amid the negativity, Misbah-ul-Haq’s return could be a crucial boost for Pakistan•Getty Images

The Big Picture

Pakistan’s lead-up to this tour can be described as chaotic at best. While most major teams are finalising their preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan cricket’s internal discord continues to divert attention off the field. The captain and coach have complained of not being consulted over team selection, the board has warned the captain and defended not seeking the coach’s opinion, while former cricketers have hit out at the rift between players and the board. Such negativity augurs badly for a team still attempting to recover from the spot-fixing controversy and working towards restoring faith in its fans.
Amid the negativity, however, there are a few things to look forward to. Discarded for most of the year, Misbah-ul-Haq has been catapulted into the role of Test captain and won his place back in the limited-overs squads as well. Things have come a full circle for Younis Khan, who, after being banned indefinitely by the board for disciplinary reasons, has been drafted back in the side.The return of experienced heads has strengthened the batting department. But the bowling, shorn of two quality seamers who have been provisionally suspended by the ICC, will look to Umar Gul for leadership. The series kicks off with a couple of Twenty20 internationals, and Pakistan, who have been short of match practice and possibly struggling for focus, could just be facing a better team. Their captain, Shahid Afridi, however was not too concerned by the absence of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. “We know we are without two of our best bowlers, but we still have ample talent to counter South Africa who are a very good side in the shorter form of the game.”South Africa have been spared the distractions. They have kick-started their preparations for the World Cup by easily overcoming Zimbabwe at home. South Africa’s batting, led by Hashim Amla, has been prolific and they will welcome back Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, who were rested against Zimbabwe. Graeme Smith has said that controversies may not necessarily have a bearing on Pakistan’s performance but, with a strong and stable side at their disposal, South Africa have an excellent chance of upstaging their opponents in their home away from home.

Form guide

(most recent first)

Pakistan: LLWWL
South Africa: WWWWL

Watch out for…

Misbah-ul-Haq: He last represented Pakistan in the World Twenty20 this year and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of an international return, with the burden of a Test captaincy in the back of his mind. Lucrative returns in domestic cricket, experience and his reputation as a solid middle-order batsman have prompted the Pakistan board to repose faith in his abilities, especially in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf’s stability in the middle order.
David Miller: A hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Miller has already made an impression in international cricket with strike-rates of 146.80 and 132.29 in one-dayers and Twenty20s respectively. The South Africa selectors will consider him a potential World Cup candidate, and after facing significantly weaker opponents like West Indies and Zimbabwe, Miller faces his first major challenge against a competitive albeit depleted Pakistan attack.

Team news

It will be interesting to see if South Africa include all the players they rested against Zimbabwe, for the tour opener. Morne Morkel injured his ankle early in the Zimbabwe series and missed a few games. Will he be brought back too?
South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Colin Ingram, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 David Miller, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan Botha (capt), 10 Robin Peterson, 11 Dale Steyn.Gul and Shoaib Akhtar will lead the attack with Abdul Razzaq and offspinner Saeed Ajmal as the support options. In the absence of Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider takes over wicketkeeping duties while Imran Farhat is likely to open with Shahzaib Hasan.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shahzaib Hasan, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

Stats and trivia

• The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will be hosting its first Twenty20 international between two Test-playing nations. The two matches that have been played here – Afghanistan v Scotland and Kenya v Netherlands – were quite low-scoring, with an average score of 127.75.
• Two of the three Twenty20 matches played between the teams have come in the World Twenty20, in 2009 and 2010, both won by Pakistan. South Africa won the first game between the two sides, in 2007.
  

  Quotes

  “Playing Pakistan is always a great challenge and they knocked us out in two major Twenty20 matches.”

  “My players are professional and have put all the controversy behind them.”

Australia must turn around their form in the three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka so they can enter the Ashes with some momentum, according to Michael Clarke

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2010Australia must turn around their form in the three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka so they can enter the Ashes with some momentum, according to Michael Clarke. The Australians opened their home season with a demoralising seven-wicket loss to Kumar Sangakkara’s men in Sunday’s Twenty20 at the WACA, less than a month from the first Ashes Test.It was Australia’s first Twenty20 loss at home, and their fifth consecutive defeat across all formats, stretching back to July’s Test series against Pakistan. That is hardly the form they want heading in to the battle to regain the urn and Clarke, who captained the Twenty20 outfit, said it was important to use the ODI series to change their fortunes.”You want to win every game you play, in all three forms of the game,” Clarke told reporters in Perth after the game. “I was told in the press conference we had won 10 out of 10 in this form of the game in Australia, so it is disappointing to lose our first Twenty20 game in Australia.”It is important that we play good cricket and win these games against Sri Lanka to build momentum into the Test series against England. We need to improve, there is no doubt about it. We are not getting the results we would like in all three forms and we need to get better and keep working on our game, individually and as a team and keep working on the areas that aren’t as good as they need to be.”Clarke opened the batting at the WACA and battled to 16 from 19 balls, which contributed to the team’s below-par total. However, he was far from alone and it wasn’t until Brad Haddin and Steven Smith combined for a counter-attacking sixth-wicket stand that the Australians began to find some touch.”I thought it was the right decision for the team,” Clarke said of opening alongside David Warner. “I made that decision, unfortunately we didn’t score enough runs tonight. I felt good. Both Dave and I hit six balls in the first three overs out of the middle of the bat, but straight to the field, which was a little bit disappointing. If they find the gap we are off to a decent start.”Australia rested Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson, who instead turned out for Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval. It wasn’t an enjoyable experience for Hussey, who made a golden duck, and the pair will rejoin the limited-overs squad for Wednesday’s first ODI at the MCG.

A track expected to take sharp turn awaits Bengal at the Karnail Singh Stadium in their final Ranji Trophy league match against Railways, who need an outright win to boost their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals

Abhishek Purohit14-Dec-2010A track expected to take sharp turn awaits Bengal at the Karnail Singh Stadium in their final Ranji Trophy league match against Railways, who need an outright win to boost their chances of jumping from sixth spot into the top three of a tightly contested Group A and qualifying for the quarter-finals.Railways’ decision to go in with three spinners is a clear indication of the home team’s reading of the surface. “Traditionally, the Karnail Singh pitch does turn, and we are expecting it to do so for this game,” Abhay Sharma, the Railways coach, told ESPNcricinfo. There have been reports saying the wicket looks under-prepared, and Bengal are sure it will turn viciously. “I won’t be surprised if I find the spinners get into action from the very first hour tomorrow,” Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, told . WV Raman, the former India opener and Bengal coach, echoed Tiwary’s opinion. “This is a pitch that will do a lot of things.”A source from the Bengal camp was more forthright. “The pitch is really under-prepared. Or should I say carefully prepared,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “The good-length spots are so dry; I expect it to crumble and the ball to start exploding from it. It will be a very interesting first day’s play.”Abhay, however, brushed aside concerns about the pitch. “Everyone can have an opinion. It seemed fine to me when I left the ground today. The curator has done his job, and the match referee is there to oversee things.”The Railways coach, who knows the Karnail Singh wicket better than most do, said that at times it behaves the exact opposite of what it is expected to. “Sometimes you think it’s going to turn, but even one innings does not get completed.” Having banked on a spin-heavy attack, Railways will surely be hoping that turn comes into play. They are playing legspinning allrounder Karan Sharma and left-arm spinner Nilesh Chauhan, apart from lead spinner Murali Kartik. While this will be Karan’s first game of the season, Chauhan will be playing only his second first-class match.Bengal are currently one point ahead of Railways, and the preparation of a result-oriented pitch could work in their favour as well, as they too need an outright win to bolster their chances of qualification. They will be hoping that the presence of former India captain Sourav Ganguly works in their favour. This will only be Ganguly’s second match of the season, after the rain-marred game against Tamil Nadu where Bengal didn’t get a chance to bat.”The kind of experience he (Ganguly) has will help Bengal,” says Sanjay Bangar, who is leading Railways after Kartik opted to concentrate on his bowling. Raman thinks it’ll depend on how Ganguly feels mentally. “At this level and the kind of player Sourav is, it’s more about mentally fine-tuning yourself for a first-class match.”Even with an outright win, both teams would need results from the other matches to go in their favour. Click here for the quarterfinal scenarios.

If it was any other team Rajasthan would be deliriously happy but since it is Mumbai, who have won the Ranji Trophy 39 times, they are cautiously optimistic

Sriram Veera25-Dec-2010They called him a (eunuch), sledged him and tried to bowl a tight line but Mumbai couldn’t remove Vineet Saxena today. Saxena, who was unbeaten on 111, later said his mistakes in previous close battles against Mumbai egged him on during the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Jaipur. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the Rajasthan captain, batting on 96, stressed the game wasn’t over yet and that Rajasthan needed to bat Mumbai out of the game on the third day.”We came close to beating them in 2003 and 2007 but we failed,” Saxena said. “In 2003, we needed 12 runs, with three wickets intact, to take the vital first-innings lead but we collapsed (Rajasthan were 230 for 7 but were bowled out for 230). In 2007, chasing 384 to win, we needed around 135 runs from about 35 overs, with seven wickets in hand, but we lost by two runs. I had hit a hundred then but had played a loose shot to get out. I was determined not to repeat that mistake today. I will give my best to stretch my innings as long as possible tomorrow.”Saxena and Kanitkar added 206 runs in 84 overs to grind out Mumbai. “We just told each other that we shall not throw our wickets,” Saxena said. “We just wanted to keep out the good deliveries and wait for the bad balls. Patience was our key today.” There was a lot of chirping from the Mumbai fielders but they couldn’t break Saxena’s focus. “One player called me too,” Saxena said with a chuckle. “I was doubly determined and just focussed on the job on the hand.”Aakash Chopra, who was out for 19 to a dubious lbw decision, put Saxena’s effort in the right context. “It’s one thing when professionals like Kanitkar or I score but for someone like Saxena to score a hundred in a pressure quarter-final against Mumbai, it means a lot to him, to his team and the local cricketers. The innings was of great importance. Saxena is not someone who is a strokemaker; his forte is patience and he is someone who is well aware of his own game. He gritted it out there brilliantly.”Chopra said the first session was the most crucial phase of play. “Mumbai bowled well in that session and kept it really tight. Only 60 runs came but it was fascinating to watch how Saxena and Kanitkar applied themselves.”Kanitkar didn’t want his team-mates to get complacent. “You can’t get take anything for granted right now. There are still two days to go. We have to ensure that we keep batting and don’t allow Mumbai the time to get back into the game.” Most domestic teams are wary of Mumbai’s reputation to script jailbreaks and Rajasthan, too, were understandably cautious.