In one of the greatest comebacks in Ranji Trophy, the 36-times champions reach the final with a 63-run win over Baroda on Thursday.
BARODA: By noon, on Thursday, the news that Irfan Pathan made a comeback into the Indian team reached the Motibagh Ground in Baroda. The left-arm paceman is to play against West Indies at his home-town in Baroda next week. Irfan had done the hard work in first class cricket and picked a handful of wickets over the past few weeks. He was the newsmaker. That was till Mumbai stole the thunder by afternoon.
In one of the greatest comebacks in Ranji Trophy 36-time champions Mumbai - on the brink of relegation in the middle of the season - stormed into the final.
Skipper Amol Muzumdar called the 63-run win over Baroda as the best win of the season. He said that he was confident that Mumbai would recover from the bad start in the second innings against Baroda. He kept the faith. Not only in the game against Baroda but even while Mumbai had ended their first three games without a point against their name.
Four numbers told the story of the semifinal against Baroda.
0 for 5 - It was Mumbai’s score in the second innings against Baroda after 20 balls.
63 - Vinayak Samant’s score in the second innings after walking in at 17 for 6
233 - Mumbai’s first innings score - a good total on the lively Motibagh wicket.
97 - Muzumdar’s score in the first innings.
The story of Mumbai’s incredible comeback this season though is more than just about numbers. It began after their loss to Hyderabad in an away game. Then they played Gujarat at home and won with a bonus point and extracted 5 points from their games against Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
“After the Gujarat game we knew each game was a knock-out for us. It was like a quarterfinal, semifinal and the final,” a gleaming Muzumdar said after the game. “Not many would have comeback after such a start. It takes a lot of courage, determination and guts,” Muzumdar said.
On Thursday, thanks largely to Samant’s gritty knock and some stern resistance from Nilesh Kulkarni, Mumbai set Baroda a target of 237. But Baroda lost wickets at regular intervals as Mumbai’s pace attack was spot on.
South-paw Rakesh Solanki raised hopes of chasing down the target early on before being castled by Wilkin Mota. All-rounder Abhishek Nair, Swapnil Hazare, Rajesh Verma and Mota struck at regular intervals. At one point with the score crossing 110-plus and with hard-hitting Yusuf Pathan and Irfan at the wicket Baroda’s hopes blossomed to life. But both fell within an over to Hazare.
Scorecard
Mumbai (1st innings): 233
Baroda (1st innings): 142
Mumbai (second innings; overnight 109-7)
V Samant C Shah b Joshi 66, N Kulkarni c Shah b Panchal 17, R Verma lbw I Pathan 4, S Hazare not out 4
Extras (b 5, lb 2, w 1, nb 3): 11
Total (all out, in 59.1 overs): 145
FoW: 8-129, 9-141, 10-145
Bowling: I Pathan 18.1-5-47-4, R Patel 19-7-34-4, S Joshi 8-1-20-1, R Pawar 4-0-20-0, Y Pathan 7-2-9-0, K Panchal 3-0-8-1
Baroda (2nd innings)
S Parab lbw b Verma 13, C Williams c Samant b Nair 17, R Solanki b Mota 22, J Martin b Nair 9, P Shah c Samant b Mota 14, I Pathan c Sharma b Hazare 27, Y Pathan c Nair b Hazare 15, K Panchal b Mota 25, R Pawar lbw b Nair 22, R Patel b Verma 5, S Joshi not out 0
Extras (lb 1, nb 3) 4
Total (all out; 51.3 overs; 252 mins) 173
FoW:1-30, 2-30, 3-63, 4-63, 5-93, 6-119, 7-120, 8-153, 9-171, 10-173
Bowling: R Verma 12-3-40-2, S Hazare 8-1-41-2, A Nair 13-4-38-3, W Mota 14.3-4-36-3, N Kulkarni 4-0-17-0
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