I'm not scared of taking tough calls: Milind Rege

Mumbais new chairman of selectors Milind Rege on his road to revival for 39time Ranji champs The new senior selection committee headed by Milind Rege has quite a task hand as they sit down together on Monday for the first time to select the Mumbai team for the Ranji Trophy The preparations have already been hampered by a delay in the appointment of the Cricket Improvement Committee CIC by the newly elected Mumbai Cricket Association MCA Milind RegeMiD DAY caught up with Rege a former Mumbai captain to learn of his plan of action Excerpts from an interview Has the delay in appointing the CIC affected thingsI dont think it has affected our plans Only the Buchi Babu tournament is over Our advice to MCA will be to send teams for all tournaments they possibly can before the Ranji Trophy starts As far as players preparations are concerned our cricketers are training at the MCAs indoor facility at BandraKurla Complex So preparations are on How much have Kanga League washouts hampered preparationsIt has hurt preparations a bit because playing the Kanga League is an advantage that Mumbai players have over others It makes a lot of difference as our cricketers get some crucial match practice in advance while other teams straightaway come into the tournament Unfortunately weve not been having a full Kanga season since last yearu00a0 Whats your plan of action as chief selectorMumbai has got a rich tradition Its a champion team So there is bound to be pressure to win the Ranji Trophy Mumbai as a team is rock solid The infrastructure is good the facilities are excellent As far as we are concerned new selection committee we have to give direction spot talent which is a massive task We will take the help of the Talent Review Committee formed by the CIC Selection is an ongoing process Do you see Mumbai losing its grip given last years shock defeat to Rajasthan in the Ranji quartersDefeat against Rajasthan a Plate Division team was an aberration It created sensation Nobody had done it before to Mumbai But I am looking at it as just a bad day in the office Our batting failed on a good wicket and thats why we lost That happens in a game One shouldnt be unduly worried about that loss Recently Mumbai beat Rajasthan in the Buchi Babu without its senior prosWe have a good bench strength and there is no reason for despair Mumbai is still a strong team because our fundamentals are good We have a strong work culture The boys work very hard They are aware of Mumbais reputation Some experts believe Wasim Jaffer should not be skipper Would you hesitate in taking such tough callsI have never hesitated in taking tough calls But the tough call has to be right All angles and the future of the player has to be taken into account Tough calls dont scare me Selection is a very subjective issue Everybody will have an opinion on it Naren Tamhane my mentor once told me never to discuss selection matters before the meeting because then you dont go into it with an open mind I am blank for the first selection meeting on Monday That is how I want to approach all my future meetings Do you see the passion to play for Mumbai going down with many players moving to other lower rung teamsLets look at it the other way Before player transfer rule came into force there were many good cricketers who never got a look in and thus never played firstclass cricket So the new rule has in fact helped Indian cricket because it has given those cricketers waiting in the wings an opportunity to play firstclass cricket So its not a cause for concern that cricketers are leaving Mumbai to play for others states or teams There is stiff competition to get into the Mumbai team and thats why they go elsewhere Coming back to selection how much will the views of the captain and coach matterNine times out of 10 the captains view is taken into account because ultimately he is going to play with that team But if the captains view is not in favour of the four selectors then obviously it will be turned down However the captain and the coachs view are always seriously considered The selectors can only facilitate the best resources Mumbai used to contribute a lot of players to the Indian team But of late that number has reduced Will there be a turnaround on the frontIts difficult because there is a lot of talent in other states as well and that does not go unnoticed anymore thanks to theu00a0 new transfer rule Players like Aakash Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar have helped Rajasthan grow as a team Other teams are catching up with Mumbai and we have to be on our toes Will we see the same dominance of Mumbai againMumbai has never lost its pride Dont go by last seasons aberration Mumbai is still a feared team It is still a dominant force In the last 12 years we have won the Ranji Trophy nine timesu00a0 So where is the question of Mumbai going down Give me a team which has been as dominant as Mumbai in the last decade Only Mumbai has done that