The story goes that after the nail-biting final moments of their Ranji Trophy semi-final at Nagpur,the Uttar Pradesh team decided to have an impromptu group photo. Upbeat after their win against Tamil Nadu,they faced the cameras knowing that natural smiles would make the frame memorable. Besides,there was this lingering doubt that with Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan set to represent Mumbai in the final,it might be a case of Hyderabad blues. On the eve of the final,UP captain Mohammad Kaif wasnt allowed to forget about the overwhelming presence of Mumbais mega stars. He had to answer endless queries relating to his teams preparedness to face Tendulkar and Zaheer. Such has been the focus on Tendulkar and Zaheer that the domestic heroes have been pushed into background. It is a forgotten fact that UP have in their ranks five internationals,who till some time back were regulars in Team India. Suresh Raina,RP Singh,Praveen Kumar,Piyush Chawla and skipper Kaif havent just played the best in business but got the better of them too. Even Mumbai go beyond Tendulkar and Zaheer with Wasim Jaffer,Ramesh Powar and Ajit Agarkar in the ranks. Besides,the two teams have a host of youngsters making their presence felt on the domestic circuit. Mumbai boys Ajinkya Rahane and Dhawal Kulkarni plus UP opener Tanmay Srivastava have shown the spark to be play top level cricket. The fact that the men with comeback hopes and boys with dreams in their eyes easily outnumber the two Test stars points to a change in scenario in Indian cricket. Mumbai has been the nursery of Indian cricket for ages while in the last decade UP emerged as the new assembly line for international cricketers. Of late,Delhi players are in large numbers in the Indian team. And this Ranji Trophy final will provide a window of opportunity for Mumbai and UP to increase their representation in Team India. With so much at stake,a close contest is on cards. But it is clear that Mumbai are favourites and UP the underdogs. The presence of big stars and an experienced squad except for Rahane and Kulkarni all others have been part of a winning side before makes Mumbai skipper Jaffer confident,but not complacent. Tendulkar told us not to take the final lightly. In the last game we all thought that we will win easily but things didnt go accordingly. If you see when you have players like Tendulkar and Zaheer in the side,sometimes players do get little bit casual which we dont want to happen in this game, he said. Jaffer also goes on to add that even individually there is a lot at stake for players. Be it youngsters or players who are making a comeback,this game will be always a big platform for everybody. One cant forget the fact that this is the final of the premium national tournament, he said. Meanwhile,Kaif is happy there are no expectations from his team. There is nothing to lose from this match,UP will gain most out of it. If Tendulkar does make runs then it wont have any impact but if a youngster takes his wicket it will be big for him. Apart from that we all know that a good show against Mumbai carries a lot of weight, he said.
