Reports | MCA’s CIC invites former cricketers to discuss Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy exit

Reports | MCA’s CIC invites former cricketers to discuss Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy exit

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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The Mumbai Cricket Association’s Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) has invited former cricketers from the association to discuss Mumbai’s terrible show in the ongoing Ranji season. The list of cricketers includes India internationals Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, and Sameer Dighe.

According to a TOI report, the CIC has invited some big names of Mumbai cricket like Vengsarkar and Manjrekar along with a few others for a meeting regarding Mumbai’s exit from the group stage of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19. Mumbai had finished at the 11th position in the combined standings of Elite Group A and B after securing only 17 points from eight games. The team under the captaincy of Dhawal Kulkarni managed to win only one game while lost on a couple of occasions this season. The meeting to discuss the debacle of the Ranji team is scheduled to be held at 5 pm on January 29 at the MCA headquarters. 

"We have invited former Mumbai captains and top players from 1970 to the present day, to cover every era. Apart from Vengsarkar and Manjrekar, Milind Rege (former chief selector) and Sameer Dighe (ex-India wicket-keeper, coached Mumbai last season) too have been invited. All these former Mumbai captains have somehow remained connected to Mumbai cricket for a long, long time. We want to know from them about what we were missing in our Ranji campaign this time, and how things were in their time. Also present in the meeting will be Dhawal Kulkarni, who led the team this time, coach Vinayak Samant, all the CIC members, which includes former Mumbai captains Raju Kulkarni (ex-India seamer) and Amol Muzumdar, and the ad-hoc committee members of the MCA," a source in the MCA told TOI. 

According to sources, the CIC had already conducted a meeting with the coaches at the BKC and it is now trying to get proper details about the structure of office and club cricket in Mumbai. On January 11, the CIC had meetings with MCA’s selectors, players and the support staff with the side for the 2018-19 season. 

"The CIC had an extensive (three-hour) meeting with the coaches at the BKC academy. We wanted to know the difficulties that they're facing. Members of the CIC are also studying the structure of office and club cricket," informed a source. 

"There seems to be a clear trust deficit at all the levels at the moment. The CIC also made it clear to Samant that as a coach, he can't criticise the players in public because that brings down the morale of the team completely. The players want the facilities at the BKC gym upgraded, and the surface at the indoor nets to be changed."

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