Playing Price

Maharashtra Ranji seamer Wahid Sayyed and Rajasthan Royals playerParag More took part in the recently-held Aurangabad Premier Leaguewhere several ICL players plied their skills

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, March 27, 2009

Maharashtra Ranji seamer Wahid Sayyed is poised to be ‘barred’ fromplaying for the State after he ‘played’ in the recently-held LokmatAuran-gabad Premier League in which four players from the rebel IndianCricket League (ICL) – three former Maharash-tra Ranji players RanjitKhirid, Dhiraj Jadhav Suyash Burkul and Raviraj Patil alsoparticipated.

Remember, Wahid Sayyed was one of the main wicket-takers forMaharash-tra in his debut Ranji season in 2006-07, wherein he bagged16 wickets at an average of 28,62, but his career nos-edived in2008-09 season, as he strug-gled to find a regular berth in the Stateside.
To make his cup of woes full, Wahid found his name on the BCCI’s listof bowlers having suspect action. And tha was primarily the reason whyhe was kept out of the playing eleven for most part of the2008-09-season - he only figured in only one game against Baroda wherehe was clobbered around (9-0-52-0 in I Innings and 4.5-0-28-1 in IIInnings).

The only saving grace for Wahid in the 2008-09 season wasthe dogged 53-run tenth-wicket stand he forged with Mondeep Mangelaagainst Baroda that allowed Maharash-tra to swell their first inningsform being 175 for 9 to 228 all out.Interestingly, Wahid’s name was missing from the list of 26 seniorteam probables announced by MCA , who would no longer be required toplay in the MCA Invitational League as the emphasis is more on sendingthese boys on overseas exposure tours.

While Wahid has lots to lose follow-ing his participation in theAuran-gabad Premier League for Sanya United, there is anothercricketer who could see trouble brewing at his end.Parag More who plays for United Cricket Club in the MCA OpenInvita-tional League, is also part of a IPL team - Rajasthan Royalsand his participa-tion in the Aurangabad Premier League couldjeopardise his chances of playing in the second edition of the multimil-lion-dollar league. Parag turned out for Navjeevan Life Care inthe APL tour-ney.

"BCCI has laid down strict instruc-tions that any players taking partin tournaments ‘unauthorised’ and ‘unapproved’ by the board will bebanned for life. Both this players you have mentioned have taken partin a tournament where four ICL players from the state have alsoplayed, so both will stand to be barred from playing for Maharashtra,"quipped MCA president Ajay Shirke.

Shirke said the state association has been doing all it can to makeits play-ers aware of which tournaments to play and which not to. "Notjust the state body, even the district cricket as-sociations have beenregularly coun-selling our boys about which tourneys to play and whichnot to. Even after all this counselling, if players act smart and playin ‘unapproved’ tourna-ments, they should be ready to face theconsequences," he reasoned.

Talking specifically about Wahid, does he think that daftness on thepart of the lanky bowler would mean state miss the services of atalented bowler? "Not at all. We’ve enough in our tank to atone forthat. Wahid has got a sus-pect bowling action and that is why we arewary about playing him in the eleven last season," he said.Clearly, life will not be the same for Wahid after two contrastingseasons with the State Ranji side, while for Parag More, the joy ofplaying in the Rajasthan Royals can just become a dampener.