The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
TN face masters of clutch moments
Defending champions Mumbai have once again shown how to get the job done as they reach Ranji semis despite firing on all cylinders
DESPITE ENTERING the semi-finals, it has not been the typical Ranji Trophy season for Mumbai. There haven’t been many batsmen bunched at the top of run-scoring lists in the season or bowlers sparkling at the top of the charts. The only thing which has remained constant for 41-times Ranji Trophy champions is their ability to win the decisive moments in games to help turn the tide in their favour. It’s also of course the most important trait to be a champion side, and it’s no surprise that Mumbai are in the final four.
It’s a trait that has eluded Tamil Nadu in their Ranji history. A great club culture at the grassroots level in the city of Chennai has consistently thrown up cricketers of quality for the state but they haven’t managed to win the trophy that often.
That ability to nail the 50-50 moments in big games hasn’t been their strength so far. Time will tell if it changes this season. They are on a high after dismantling Karnataka, that had KL Rahul, Karun Nair, and Manish Pandey, in the quarter-final.
The biggest threat for Mumbai will be an in-form bowling attack of Tamil Nadu. Three seamers K Vignesh, Aswin Christ, T Natarajan have combined taken 94 wickets this season. The seamers have been coached by L Balaji, the former India and Tamil Nadu bowler, and the results are here for everyone to see. Tamil Nadu’s batting too has shone: Abhinav Mukund (689), Kaushik Gandhi (726) and Dinesh Karthik (664) have looked good in the top order, and they can test the inexperienced Mumbai attack.
There is however a commonality in both teams — the hunt for openers. Mumbai has picked 17-year-old boy Prithvi Shaw for semi-finals and Tamil Nadu continue to search for Abhinav Mukund’s partner.
For some reason, Mumbai’s batsmen haven’t had prolific individual season. Their best batsman Shreyas Iyer has 553 runs and stands 44th in the highest run getter category this year.
To highlight the gulf, Gujarat’s Priyank Panchal is perched at the top with 1120 runs. In the bowling department, the leftarm spinner Vijay Gohil has 24 wickets in five games, the highest for Mumbai but in 48th position in the list of Ranji bowlers.
Unusual season
Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer spoke about the unusual season where Mumbai has managed to reach last four without many special individual performances.
“We have believed in ourselves, no matter whatever the conditions are. No one is thinking about individual performances, I would like to say. Everything that matters is we want to win the game whatever the situation we are stuck in. I think in each and every player’s mind, this keeps in mind that we have to win the game. We are not thinking too far in the future, we are taking it match by match,” he says.
Iyer would be the main batsman for Mumbai and could be the difference between a win and a loss. For a boy who remained the talk of the domestic circuit in the last couple of years, it has been up-anddown season.
An injury meant he missed out the initial games for Mumbai and when he came back, he seemed he was more focussed on his technique. He admits that he got more defensive when people started to talk of him been playing too many shots.
“I was focusing on defending the ball. Everyone used to say that I am playing a lot of shots. This year, I was really focusing on defending, which I have done quite well. I am leaving a few balls, I have played more balls than previous years, so there are positives also in that which I can take further,” Iyer responds.
Tamil Nadu have had a new coach this season in Hrishkesh Kanitkar who explained how the team bounced back after their poor first game against Mumbai at Lahli.
“Our preparation has gotten better. I had to pull these guys out of their comfort zone, a little bit. Not much in matches, but definitely in practice. I changed their training regime a bit to challenge them more in the net. I let them to be their own in matches though. They were receptive as I also explained them why I was changing certain things. They bought into it. When you start achieving results, it’s easier to get convinced. I can cite a few instances where they showed great fighting spirit. After a poor start to the season-opener against Mumbai at Lahli, they made a quick turnaround with a 100-run opening stand in the second innings before the bowlers brought us closer to winning that match.”
“After that, against Punjab and Bengal our lower-order batsmen got us some crucial runs — 30-40. It was extremely important, showing the ability to fightback in close contests,” Kanitkar said.
Mumbai knows how to win in big games, they can’t explain it but they know they got it.
However, for Tamil Nadu it could be another chance to upset the team who have been their nemesis over the years. Will Tamil Nadu finally bell the cat or would Mumbai once again find a way to win the moments that matter?