Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner, believes that like Team India, Railways is a melting pot of players from different states and cultures. But the similarity ends there.
MUMBAI: It has been a tough two seasons for Railways. This season they lost three of their first team regulars, including Jai Prakash Yadhav, to the lucrative Indian Cricket League. Yet, the low-profile squad have a ticket to the Elite Division by virtue of reaching the final of the Plate Group.
Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner, believes that like Team India, Railways is a melting pot of players from different states and cultures. But the similarity ends there.
The two-time Ranji Trophy champions have no big stars in their line-up. While Kartik, the Railways captain, is used to getting umpteen jerseys while playing for India, his Railway teammates manage with just two T-shirts for a full season.
“These players don’t enjoy the kind of facilities that the cricket associations of Bengal or Mumbai provide to their players. When we camp in Delhi, the players stay in dormitories attached to the Karnail Singh Stadium. Sanitation facilities are appaling. I won’t put my worst enemy there,” Kartik says.
“In my 12 seasons, I can’t think of a year when we got more than two shirts that too, of sub-standard quality. Till this year the practice nets had holes in them and most of the time the players have to roll wickets themselves,” he adds.
The players are not always provided with SG Test cricket balls, the standard equipment used in Ranji Trophy. “All this will sound funny and depressing but playing for Railways is still a very pleasurable and wonderful experience all the same,” Kartik says.
The team won five titles, including two Elite Ranji Trophy championships, between 2001 and 2005. Sanjay Bangar led the team to its 2005 triumph. He admits there is room for improvement with regard to facilities but he thinks the organisation is doing whatever it can.
“We have to live in standard hotels rather than luxury rooms. Even for this Plate Group final we came to Mumbai by train,” Bangar says.
Kulamani Parida still rides a motorcycle after playing for 13 years, while none of the players can look forward for additional income from logo money as Railways don’t have a sponsor.
But Bangar believes these are small sacrifices. “There is job security in the Railways. There is no excessive pressure on players to perform. Mumbai haven’t made the semifinals and it is considered a big setback,” Bangar adds, putting things in the perspective.
He is happy that Railways will be back where they belong next season — the Elite Division. “In between we missed players who were hungry,” says Kartik, talking about how Railways fell into the Plate Division. “Probably a bit of complacency crept in,” Bangar adds.
This season Sanjib Sanyal, a former Bengal batsman, Harshad Rawle and promising wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat, who played for Haryana last season, are among others who have shown the hunger to perform.
“Sanjay Bangar is 35 but even he is hungry and has a reputation to protect. Same is the case with someone like Parida,” Kartik says.
“We have always rallied around one another and that has been the ethos of the side for many years. It is up to me to take that moto forward. We probably won’t have a Yuvraj Singh or a Sachin Tendulkar in our side but we will always have players who play for one another. That is the key,” Kartik sums it up.
And that’s what the game’s spirit is all about, isn’t it?
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