Ranji: Delhi hold edge

MUMBAI, November 22: It is an unusual mix of cricketers who would be vying for attention at the Wankhede Stadium this weekend. Test discards, hopefuls, domestic dadas and the odd debutant will be aiming to prove their worth when the derby clash of the national cricket championship gets under way from Friday. If defending champions Mumbai have a reputation to protect, former champions Delhi will be keen to extend their resurgence.
With the Australian tour on the horizon, atleast six players - Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar, who have been on the selectors' radar, will be eager to repose the faith.For the likes of Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Prashant Naik, Virat Kohli and Avishkar Salvi it will be another opportunity to add muscle to their growing reputation. For the seasoned campaigners of the domestic circuit Amol Muzumdar, Vinayak Samant and Mithun Manhas, it is simply another day in office. The clash between the two heavweights holds significance in the Group A stakes too as a win could pave way to the top. "Everyone (other teams) will be keeping an eye on us," remarked Muzumdar.
For the first time in two years, Mumbai will be up against a formidable batting line-up. Chopra, Sehwag, Gambhir, Manhas, Rajat Bhatia and Kohli form a starcast that could terrorise the best of the domestic attacks. "It is one of the toughest," conceded Muzumdar. The Mumbai skipper, however, wasn't losing sleep over it. "They have played their last two games at the Kotla. It will be a different ball game at the Wankhede, where the bounce could cause a few surprises," he says. The task is thus cut out for the Mumbai attack comprising Agarkar, the fit-again Salvi and off-spinner Powar.
Muzumdar will have to anchor a relatively young batting line-up in the absence of Wasim Jaffer, who is on Test duty. The 19-year-old Ajinkya Rahane will partner Sahil Kukreja at the top followed by Sharma and Naik.
Squads (from):
MUMBAI: Amol Muzumdar (capt.), Ajit Agarkar (vice capt.), Rohit Sharma, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Prashant Naik, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nair, Ramesh Powar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Avishkar Salvi, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdulla, Anup Revandkar, Bhavesh Patel.
DELHI: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Akash Chopra, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Virat Kohli, Mayank Tehlan, Puneet Bisht (wk), Ishant Sharma, Pradeep Sangwan, Chaitanya Nanda, Aditya Jain, Amit Bhandari, Narender Singh.