Can MCA convince Amol Muzumdar to stay a Mumbai player

The controversy regarding Mumbai team's selection for the Buchi Babu Invitational cricket tournament took an ugly turn yesterday as Mumbai's cricket fraternity was abuzz with talk of veteran batsman Amol Muzumdar considering to play for another state.

Muzumdar, the second-highest run-getter in the history of Ranji Trophy with 7,593 runs (all for Mumbai), was initially not included in the Buchi Babu squad but later drafted in at the behest of coach Praveen Amre.

The decision to rope in Muzumdar, Gautam Yadav and Vinayak Samant played a role in selector Shishir Hattangadi stepping down from his post. Hattangadi was part of a committee that decided to field a young side for the tournament. The former Mumbai captain said he quit on a matter of principle.

After serving Mumbai cricket for 16 years, Muzumdar is probably irked at the way he's been treated and, according to grapevine, "has decided not to go to Chennai (for Buchi Babu) but move on from Mumbai to play for another state."

Neither Muzumdar nor Mumbai Cricket Association joint secretary Hemant Waingankar responded to MiD DAY's phone calls and text messages.

It will be clear today whether Mumbai cricket loses one of its most enduring performers or the administrators of the game manage to pacify Muzumdar, like they did ahead in the 2005-06 season. Muzumdaru00a0 had then reportedly wanted to join his Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit, captain Sairaj Bahutule and pace bowler Munaf Patel in their shift to Maharashtra but was convinced by MCA to stay on.

An MCA insider, though reluctant to speak on the topic, did reveal that Muzumdar was indeed considering the drastic step.

"The picture will be clear once the team leaves for Chennai (today)," he said.

After a mediocre run in the Ranji Trophy league stage, Muzumdar was benched for last year's final. He was skipper before the captaincy baton was passed on to Wasim Jaffer at the beginning of the season.

While coach Amre had told MiD DAY then that it was the "toughest decision" of his tenure as coach, Muzumdar, who was dropped from a Mumbai team for the first time since making a remarkable first-class debut with a knock of 260 against Haryana in February 1994, admitted that he couldn't sleep the whole night after being told of his exclusion.