Pitch demanded playing four seamers instead of two spinners: Amre

Mumbai, Feb 2 (UNI) Mumbai coach Pravin Amre defended the decision to drop experienced spinner Nilesh Kulkarni in favour of a pacer in the Ranji Super League final against Bengal today, saying that the pitch called for four seamers instead of two spinners.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the first day's play here, Amre said, ''Sometimes, you have to take hard decisions.

Definitely he was our main bowler,'' he said, adding, ''but you have to pick your team looking at the wicket. Even Bengal went with four medium pacers. The wicket demanded an extra medium-pacer.'' Kulkarni, who has been part of six Ranji Trophy finals, was replaced by Wilkin Mota. Sent in at No 3, Mota managed just eight before falling to Ranadeb Bose's canny medium pace. ''Mota was playing as an allrounder, Sachin [Tendulkar] was batting at four and Amol Mazumdar was not padded. But we know that Mota batted extremely well against Punjab for his 75 and he can bat,'' Amre explained.

Amre was pleased with the way the day's play went, given the centuries from Tendulkar and Jaffer. ''We are happy with the score, especially after being reduced to 14 for 2. It was nice to see 281 after losing the toss and batting first,'' he added.

UNI