Ranji Trophy: The hosts start their match against the Ajay Jadeja-led Rajasthan as firm favourites.
MUMBAI: Mumbai start their Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match against Rajasthan on Tuesday as favourites buoyed by paceman Ajit Agarkar’s return to full fitness.
In the past few matches, Mumbai’s pace attack rarely made an impact but that ought to change with the arrival of Agarkar, who has recovered from a groin injury that he sustained during the Twenty20 match in South Africa.
The hosts relied on the guile of spinners Ramesh Powar and Nilesh Kulkarni to force a win against Gujarat in their last match, which they won by an innings and 163 runs.
For the moment, however, skipper Amol Muzumdar doesn’t want to count his chickens before they hatch.
“I don’t want to think about anything else except going in and playing a good game,” said Muzumdar. “With just 6 matches for each side in the group stages, there is no let-up, which is why the early results were really bad for us. A win against Punjab would have given us a different dimension.”
In Rajasthan, Mumbai face a potentially tricky opponent led by a wily coach-cum-captain Ajay Jadeja. The 35-year-old was their best batsman (684 runs at 97.71) last year and his captaincy had a huge impact in his side’s fortunes. But this year he has played only two of his side’s four matches and averaged just 11.33.
But Jadeja has good memories of Wankhede, where he averaged 93.00 in ODIs during his stint with the national side. The catch being that he last played an ODI
“As coach-cum-captain I have to think of the team too. Earlier, I could just concentrate on my game but I need to inspire the others too,” he said.
Mumbai have a young team — a team that many reckon is still not khadoos enough. But Jadeja feels that it is the exodus of seniors without any proper replacements that has hurt Mumbai the most.
“A lot of senior players have left and been replaced with youngsters. They will take their time getting set. But most selectors these days have this ‘get young blood into the side’ policy. A policy that sometimes hurts the team, because the youngsters get their cap much too easily,” said Jadeja.
However, one youngster, 19-year-old Rohit Sharma, has shown that he is completely worthy of his place in the side. With 352 runs at 70.40, he leads the batting averages for Mumbai and his 205 in the last game had a huge part to play in his side’s easy triumph.
The onus to perform for Rajasthan will be with opener Gagan Khoda and Vikram Solanki. Jadeja will have to bring his best form to the table too.
The wicket will bounce and turn and the spinners should have a ball on day’s three and four. Mumbai currently have 5 points after 4 matches while Rajasthan have 4 points from as many matches.
Teams
Mumbai (from): Amol Muzumdar (capt.), Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinayak Mane, Sahil Kukreja, Rohit Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Abhishek Nair, Bhavin Thakkar, Wilkin Mota, Swapnil Hazare, Prashant Naik, Moondeep Mungela, Hiken Shah.
Rajasthan (from): Ajay Jadeja (capt.), Rahul Kanwat, Gagan Khoda, Vikram Solanki, Nikhil Doru, Naresh Gahlot, Rohit Jhalani (wk), Mohd Aslam, Pankaj Singh, Shamsher Singh, Afroz Khan, Subhanshu Vijay, Sumit Mehta, S Gehlot, Rajesh Bishnoi.
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