GAME AGAINST MADHYA PRADESH CHARGED US UP, SAYS KULKARNI

Like his team Mumbai, pacer Dhawal Kulkarni has peaked at the right time. After an ordinary outing in terms of wickets in the league stages, the right arm pacer took 5/ 33 in the Ranji Trophy semi- final against Services and followed it with 4/ 24 in the final on Saturday to bundle out Saurashtra for 148.

“I was confident as I got five wickets in the previous game. It would have been great to bag another five- for here but I am happy with my performance,” Kulkarni said after the end of first day’s play.

“There was moisture early on the wicket and it was a good decision to bowl first. The track will get harder and will suit fast bowlers more. Spinners will come into play from the fourth day,” he added.

Dhawal had just 16 wickets before the semi- final and was one of the reasons that Mumbai could score only one outright win. “I was bowling well but wickets were missing. We ( as a team) were also doing well in the league games. The game against MP was an important one and that charged us up. We have carried on the momentum since,” Kulkarni said.

Saurashtra made a surprise change replacing man- of- the- match in the semi- final Vishal Joshi with seamer Saurya Sanandiya. “It is a bouncy wicket, where seamers will have more role to play,” reasoned Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah.

On the team’s disappointing batting show, Shah said. “We wanted to have at least 250 but we can still pull it back with early wickets tomorrow,” he said.