JOIN USThere was a time in the ’70s and ’80s when three, sometimes four and occasionally even five players from Bombay – as it was know then – were in the Indian Test eleven. Today, Sachin Tendulkar is the sole regular representative, while several others have come and gone.
Home hopes that after a long time, two Mumbaikars would figure in the eleven, were dashed when Virat Kohli was unsurprisingly preferred to Rohit Sharma. That gave Delhi a total of four players in the starting line-up – Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma. Unprecedented in the history of Indian cricket!
Varun Aaron’s debut meant Jharkhand had two men in the eleven, Mahendra Singh Dhoni having the company of a State-mate in the Test side for the first time since his debut in December 2005. Earlier in the month, Umesh Yadav ended Vidarbha’s long wait with his debut at the Feroze Shah Kotla.
Indian cricket has firmly moved away from the once unquestioned power centre, and while that is a welcome development, Mumbai would do well to ask itself where its cricket is headed. Despite the presence in the 15-man squad of Rohit as well as Ajinkya Rahane.