Mumbaihavetheir taskcutout
Table-toppers Saurashtra confident of maintaining their momentum against hosts
MUMBAI: In any other domestic season, playing against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium, any opposition would always feel the extra pressure.
However, the tables are turned this season and in the Ranji Trophy league game starting here on Saturday, Saurashtra are eyeing Mumbai’s scalp and to inflict more misery in a difficult campaign for the domestic giants.
The home team enters the contest facing a do-or-die situation, while the Rajkot-based team is in rampaging form and sitting pretty at the top of the table with 25 points from six outings.
Placed 13th in the Elite League table of Group A and B, Mumbai need to win their remaining three games, with at least two outright and one on first innings lead, and hope other results go their way to qualify for the knock-outs.
Despite the sight of a green wicket, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat was confident to settle scores for the heartburn of losing two Ranji finals to Mumbai (2012-13 and 2015-16).
“I would not hesitate to say this is our best chance; not just because how their (Mumbai) team looks like, but because the way we have been playing. We have got two outright wins in our last two matches; the momentum is on our side, the team looks confident and settled. That gives us an extra edge for sure. It is going
Group A
Chhattisgarh v Maharashtra Karnataka v Railways Mumbai v Saurashtra Vidarbha v Gujarat to be a good contest, we are definitely looking to go one-up,” declared Unadkat.
“Every team goes through this phase (struggle without their senior players). But, yes, of what I have seen of Mumbai, this team looks to be on the weaker side (on paper),” the pacer observed.
With their top guns on international duty, this season was going to test their bench strength but after three reverses (one outright and twice conceding first innings lead) the lack of options has been exposed. To add to Mumbai’s misery, the side has been blighted by injuries. In desperate need of a senior pro to lead the attack, it suffered a setback when pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was ruled out of the game.
“Dhawal has dropped out. He practiced yesterday but I think he wasn’t 100 per cent. We will miss him in this match,” Aditya Tare said. Medium pacer Shivam Malhotra has been added to the squad as replacement while Armaan Jaffer gets another chance in place of Eknath Kerkar, also struggling with an ankle niggle.
While Saurashtra are a wellrounded side, Mumbai’s hopes will mainly rest on their batting to put pressure on the opposition with Shreyas Iyer, skipper Siddhesh Lad and Tare in good form.
With their next fixture against defending champions Vidarbha, Mumbai are staring at an insurmountable task.