From: sidi@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf)
Subject: The Young and the Restless (looong) (Bombay youngsters)
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 01:22:36 GMT

	First of all, a warning. This is pretty long, and probably of
little interest to those who don't follow Indian cricket and more
specifically Bombay cricket very closely. If you don't fit into either of
these categories ( more fool you :-) ), hit 'n' now ! 

	OK, have been planning this for a while, never got round to
completing it until today. As you'll notice, it was begun before the Ranji
season. Basically, it reviews 4 or 5 players who are on the verge of making
it to the Bombay Ranji side but haven't gotten there yet. Like most of my
stuff, a lot longer than it ought to be :-( . Anyway, enough of the
disclaimers. 
 
********************************

	The Ranji season gets underway soon in India, and hope rises
everlasting in many a fan's breast. As a Bombayite, one fervently hopes that
that emerald beside the sea, that cosmopolitan paradise, that cricketing
capital of the country, will return to it's rightful place atop the Indian
domestic cricketing world ! It has been far too long since we have claimed
that ultimate prize - maybe this will be the year !! After all we have
Abey and Salil and Vinod - all smarting still from the selectors' rejection
- and are led by the one who ought to smart the most, Raju Kulkarni.
Surely, their desire to demonstrate to the selectors the errors of their
ways will impart that special edge to their play, and bring that
magnificent trophy back to it's rightful home ?? We shall have to wait and
see. 
	But one must always focus beyond these narrow horizons, to that
limitless vista that is THE FUTURE !! It is in that noble enterprise that I do
undertake to pen this little missive. The MEN Of Bombay Yet To Come, the
ones that shall bring me pleasure in my dotage. The one's who are ooozing
with talent and desire, but have not been able to break thru to the Bombay
team due to the presence of the good veterans. So, ladies and gentlemen, I
bring to you Bombay's own "Young and  Restless". 

**************************************

A Boy Named Amol
	There was a question last year on the net regarding Amol Muzumdar -
someone had read his name in junior scores, scoring tons by the ton. We
knew of him, but not much else. 
	Well, got to see Amol bat over the summer (such as it was). Really
got to see only one inning. He's a right-handed middle order bat ( comes in
one-drop usually ).  
	Saw him in the Kanga League ( a highly competetive league played
over the monsoons in Bombay - all the first class players including the
internationals play for their clubs ) - he played for CCI. He's a regular
in the side, tho it includes Sachin, Kambli, Kuruvilla and Ankola to name
just four. The first game I saw had the stars missing ( they were away
playing the Duleeps), and Amol came in #3 in that one at least. 
	Now, this was the first game that could be played this season (tho
it was the 6th weekend - the first 5 had been washed out). That meant the
pitch was not really prepared, and the untended outfield made it almost
impossible to hit a four ( the game was at Cross Maidan, so the Bombayites
will be able to imagine the state of the outfield !). In addition, there
was a heavy cloud cover that day and a few cases of light drizzle. All in
all, terrible batting conditions. 
	CCI was put in, and lost wickets early and often. The slid at one
stage to 18 for 4, before being pulled out of the woods by Amol and a
couple of batsmen at the other end. They finally ended up at 128/6 before
heavy rain put an end to the day - Amol ended up with an unbeaten fifty
(51, I think  it was). Under difficult conditions, he was tremendous all
day. Showed remarkable composure and grit, as well as stamina ( he was
there over 4 hours). Hit the only boundary of the day, a tremendous cover
drive late in his inning
	** (tangent mode on) 
	 ( tho there was this one hilarious instance when
his partner, Suru Nayak the former international, ran six after Suru pushed
one past point and the fielder couldn't find the ball in the overgrown
grass !! The batsmen thought the fielder was trying to trick them, so at
the end of each run they slowly walked towards each other, eyes
concentrated on the fielder. Then, when each was about 5 yards from their
crease, one would yell "dhav" meaning run, and they'd sprint like hell
towards the other end. The process would then be repeated :-) :-) Well, it
was funny at the time :-) Had me rolling about, actually :-) )
	(tangent mode off ) **
     
	Anyway. I talked to a couple of people there, ( including the CCI
manager- a great guy), and they said that the feeling was that Amol and
Joglekar were the two young bats in Bombay who seemed to have the potential
to maybe represent India one day. At this stage, of course, it's just
wishful thinking - it's almost impossible to tell a kid's class when he's
about 17 and has played only club attacks ( tho good club attacks). The
only thing you can really judge is temperament - does the guy have the
ability to come good when the going gets tough ? Amol demonstrated that
quality in oodles that day - the going was about as tough as it could be
and he almost singlehandedly pulled the side thru. His score ended up being
the highest recorded in the entire Kanga League  that Sunday in the "A"
division - even if the Duleep stars were away, most of the other Bombay
Ranji players _were_ around ( along with the old ones - Vengsarkar for
example ). 
	There was talk that we'd like to see him play for Bombay this
season - give a youngster experience early. Personally, I thought he showed
tremendous class, but then Iam no judge. Anyway, Iam a fan already - I told
a friend on getting home that I had seen a future India bat that day :-) .
Either way, I have dibs on being his greatest fan on RSC for the future :-)

*********************************

	His Father's Son ??

	One hopes so !! Iam talking , of course, about Rohan Gavaskar !!!
He played for CCI as well, in the match I referred to earlier. He's _not_ a
regular in the side - was there only because the stars were missing. He
came in at #4, when the score was about 5 for 2, and hung around for about
45 minutes before being dismissed with the score at about 16 or so.
Basically, batting conditions were terrible - one could do little more than
survive. He didn't do very much, obviously, but I later found out from the
manager that he had a 102 fever - was there only because the manager
insisted he play ( manager said his father scored a test century with that
fever - the son shouldn't be coddled and be able to avoid playing a club
game due to a little fever :-) ) . Obviously, I didn't see him at his best.
	Rohan is left-handed unlike his father. He played for the Bombay
Under 16's last year, tho he is no longer eligible this year. I did read
about him making a few biggish scores in a regional age-group tournament
sponsore by Sportstar a month or so ago  - in fact he scored close to a
century and then won the match by taking 4 wickets in a couple of overs
with his occasional spinners :-)  
	He was reserve for CCI in it's next game when the stars returned.
Sat next to him there, talked to him a bit. Nice guy. Bit of a cricket fan,
knows about a few games that obviously happened before he was conscious of
them :-) . Had just finished his 10th in school - had gotten into Podar for
Commerce !! Asked him if he was in the Podar team [ :-) ], and he said he
didn't know - the season was to begin only in November :-) Either way, a
good pedigree college for a future cricketer :-) :-) 

***************************

	Paras the paceman

	Also playing for CCI, sharing the pace attack with Abey Kuruvilla
and Salil Ankola, is Paras Mhambre. Young, pretty good. Saw him take a
couple of wickets - the same as Abey and Salil. Asked about him and was
told that he was on the fringes of the Bombay team, but doesn't get the
chance because the front line consists of Abey,Salil and Raju Kulkarni. 
	This season, he wasnt in the original 16 ( they went with Vignesh
Shahane as the 4th seamer), but was called up to the 16 when Salil went
down with an injury for the first Ranji game. But, IMHO, could be a pretty
solid prospect for the future.

***************************

	The ones I haven't seen :-)  --
	Vignesh Shahane - 4th seamer for Bombay. Someone sent me email,
asking me to write about him. Sorry, whoever it was, we had an email crash
and I lost your address and so couldnt reply to you personally. I dont know
about Vignesh, except I've heard he's in the side ahead of Paras which
means he's probably good :-) In fact, the person who wrote me said he had
been Vignesh's schoolmate - tho he had lost touch. Well, I invite you to
supply all details you can remember from the old days :-) Which school,
college, club , was he rude to the teachers etc :-) Seriously, anything you
know will be an improvement !! 

	Manoj Joglekar - Left handed bat, under 19 years old :-) . The
guys I talked to listed him along with Amol as the two brightest batting
prospects in Bombay . Didn't get to see him bat, tho I really wanted to (
the monsoons caused too many games to be washed out - and in my last week I
decided I'd rather go see CCI with SRT, Kambli, Abey and Salil instead :-)
) . Am almost sure that he plays for Shivaji Park Gymkhana in the Kanga's
(tho it might have been Shivaji Park Youngsters). Also plays in the Times
Shield A division ( which causes me to suspect he's older than Amol's 17
odd). Had a century there, and on the strength of that was included in the
Bombay Ranji squad this season for the first game ( got about 9 in his only
inning I think ). Definately one to watch. 

*********************************

	Well, this thing has gotten much too long ( so what's new about
that :-) ). Will wrap up. Anyway, this was intended to name the guys on the
fringe of the team - not players like Dighe, Paranjpe, Barucha etc who have
already made the Bombay side (albiet maybe temporarily ) :-) 
	

			Sadiq [ catchin' em young ] Yusuf






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