The Mumbai selection committee sprang a surprise today by dropping former skipper Amol Muzumdar from the side led by Sachin Tendulkar that will take on the Rest of India for the Irani Trophy in Chennai from September 18 to 22.
Announcing the fifteen-member squad, the selectors -- Dilip Vengsarkar, Raju Kulkarni, Abdul Ismail and Sanjay Patil -- said 40 probables would be picked for the next Ranji season in the first week of November.
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Instead, the selectors have recalled 31 year-old Test discard Vinod Kambli, who is planning an international
A decade ago Muzumdar had scored 260 on debut against Haryana in a Ranji Trophy match and was hailed as a future Test batsman, but never quite made the grade.
When contacted in England, Muzumdar was shocked and disappointed to learn of his exclusion, but took it bravely. "These things are a part of cricket," he said. "I will definitely give it a big try again. When Sachin Tendulkar leaves for national duty, there will be a spot again in the team."
The Mumbai team leaves for Chennai on September 14, where it will play a practice game before the Irani Trophy match. The Rest of India side for the match is yet to be picked.
Full name: Amol Anil MuzumdarFirst-Class career batting and fielding (1993/94-2002/03)
| M | I | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | Ct | |
| Overall | 90 | 138 | 18 | 6051 | 260 | 50.42 | 13 | 35 | 107 |
One-Day domestic career batting and fielding (1994/95-2002/03)
| M | I | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | Ct | |
| Overall | 65 | 59 | 14 | 1894 | 109 | 42.08 | 2 | 16 | 26 |
The squad:
Sachin Tendulkar (captain)
Wasim Jaffer
Vinayak Mane
Nishit Shetty
Vinod Kambli
Bhavin Thakkar
Sairaj Bahutule
Vinayak Samant (wicketkeeper)
Ramesh Powar
Nilesh Kulkarni
Aavishkar Salvi
Ajit Agarkar
Robin Morris
Swapnil Hazare
Vinit Indulkar
Standbyes: Rajesh Varma, Abhijit Shetty, Abhishek Nair, Sahil Kukreja
Coach: Chandrakant Pandit
Physio: Vipul Chawda
Trainer: Amok Pandit