As I see it

West Zone Duleep Trophy team coach Praveen Amre offers his take on the three Maharashtra cricketers in the squad

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, February 8, 2009

The inclusion of three Maharashtra cricketers – Kedar Jadhav, Samad Fallah and Ameya Shrikhande in the West Zone Duleep Trophy team has been looked upon with much excitement and anticipation in the state cricket fraternity. Two of the three –Kedar Jadhav and Samad Fallah figured in the playing eleven against East Zone, and made a fair impression in a West Zone team swarming with talented players.Getting into the playing eleven was itself a 'challenge' for the State boys. But looking at the bigger picture, where do these boys stand among the plethora of talented players in the domestic circuit? West Zone coach and former India middle-order batsman Praveen Amre gives his take on the trio.Kedar Jadhav: We took a tough call in having Kedar in the playing eleven against East Zone as we preferred him over seasoned Ramesh Powar. Kedar looks a bright prospect for the future. He has got over 600 runs in Ranji Trophy this season which is a testament to his consistency. I also know that he has got about six fifties this Ranji season but needs to convert those into big hundreds. Sometimes you may get a hundred and your team loses, but it really counts when someone like Kedar gets a crucial forty and also pulls off a brilliant catch at forward short-leg (Kedar took a blinder of Saurabh Tiwari off the bowling of Rajesh Pawar). It's all about making it count in the bigger platform, and I too made it to the national team through a string of good performances in Duleep Trophy. With guys like Wasim Jaffer and Parthiv Patel around, Kedar has a lot to learn which should stand him in good stead. Samad Fallah: I had seen Fallah bowl last season. The basic difference I see in his bowling now and then is that he has improved on bowling the right line. Last year, he was erratic and had the tendency to spray the ball around. This season, he has worked on his consistency which has yielded him rich dividends (he has taken 33 wickets this season.Ameya Shrikhande: For the Ranji Trophy, the boys are together for three to four months for Mumbai. But in Duleep Trophy, we are together for two days which doesn't allow me to give a fair opinion of him. Plus, Maharashtra this season were not in our half, so I haven't seen much of him in match situations. But what I saw of him at the nets so far, I can tell you that Ameya seems to be a good student of the game. But that's not enough. He needs to grab whatever opportunities that comes his way, as chances doesn't come according to your own convenience.