Mumbai, Jan 19:
A keen battle awaits the fans when newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat clash with the Rest of India in the five-day Irani Cup match, to be played at the Brabourne Stadium here from tomorrow.
The match, with five more home Test matches coming up, will serve as another platform for the fringe and performing players from both the teams to catch the selectors’ attention.
There may not be many vacancies currently in the high-flying Indian Test team, but a top drawer show in an important match like the Irani will certainly go a long way in enhancing the particular player’s chances in the near future.
After leading Gujarat to their maiden Ranji Trophy title with the bat and his glovework, Parthiv Patel has a great chance to score brownie points against Wridhiman Saha of the Rest whom he had replaced, when the latter got injured, in the Indian Test team against England.
Parthiv did not see it as a mini-battle between himself and the Bengal stumper.
“It’s a game between Gujarat and the Rest and not between two players. We all know he’s very talented, but it’s a game between two teams not individual players,” Parthiv said today.
The game also offers a fine springboard for players like Abhinav Mukund, who guided Tamil Nadu into the Ranji Trophy semi-finals, to show his worth as an opener alongwith Mumbai’s Akhil Herwadkar and Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal, who has scored over 1,300 runs in 10 games this first class season, embellished with a triple and a double hundred. (PTI)
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