Mumbai to take on Maharashtra in state Derby

A struggling Mumbai will take on arch-rivals Maharashtra in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A game beginning here on Thursday. Mumbai go into the must-win game with their qualifying chances for the quarter-final knock out hanging by a thread.

The 41-time domestic champions are yet to register their first win this season, after drawing two games (vs Railways and Karnataka) and suffering a ninewicket loss to Gujarat after taking the first innings lead.

Mumbai have suffered a huge setback with their skipper and key pacer Dhawal Kulkarni being ruled out of the game after sustaining an ankle niggle.

Their batting has let them down and the line-up that includes experienced campaigners Surya Kumar Yadav and Aditya Tare will need to step up and deliver. With opener Akhil Herwadkar dropped due to poor form, uncapped U23 player Bhupen Lalwani is expected to open with Jay Bista.

A lot will also depend on how crisis man Siddhesh Lad, who has been named the stand-in skipper, performs.

PUNE:

day before their Pool D game against Germany, the Netherlands hockey team was seen trying out penalty shootouts on the practice pitch of the Kalinga Stadium here.

The Dutch were perhaps a bit too optimistic and overconfident about their chances at this edition of the World Cup as the shootouts will not come into effect until the knockouts.

Perhaps they should have been training for penalty corners instead of shootouts as they wasted as many as four short corner opportunities before going down 1-4 to the Germans.

World No.6 Germany are known to build on their performances during a tournament and

BHUBANESWAR:A