Baroda coach Ashok Mankad had remarked that the difference between Test cricket and ODIs lied in the fact that in a test game, one has the opportunity to correct a mistake.
Mumbai lose their last match by one wicket but qualify for knock-outs
MUMBAI: Before the Ramakant Desai Trophy began, Baroda coach Ashok Mankad had remarked that the basic difference between Test cricket and one-dayers lied in the fact that in a five-day game, a player has the opportunity to correct a mistake in the second innings unlike in a limited overs game, where one error could cost the match. On Friday at the Wankhede Stadium, Anupam Sanklecha proved this wrong.
The Maharashtra bowler conceded 18 runs in the 48th over that helped Mumbai pile up 244 for the loss of nine wickets.
When the chase reached its climax, that dreadful over during which Prashant Naik smashed two sixes, would come back to haunt the visitors, particularly Sanklecha, as they were left with 9 runs to get and just one wicket in the bag.
That was when Sancklecha found his moment of redemption as he smashed Rajesh Verma for two boundaries to steer his team home.
The Maharashtra players ran onto the field to hug the tail-ender, who finished with a match-winning, unbeaten 34. “He had to do it for us,” said Maharashtra coach Chandrakant Pandit after the thriller.
Skipper Sairaj Bahutule too played a crucial role for the visitors, first by taking two wickets, including that of his opposite number Amol Muzumdar, and later, by adding 42 runs with Sanklecha when Maharashtra seemed out of it.
Mumbai, at the end of the day, were left with long faces, despite making it to the next round. This was their last game in the West Zone leg of the Ranji one-dayers, and their loss terminated their three-match unbeaten streak in the event.
Mumbai have only themselves to blame for this predicament, despite playing some outstanding cricket in the past week. Muzumdar and Co. should have finished off the game once Maharashtra slumped to 193-8.
But that didn’t happen and a large part of the blame can be attributed to a mediocre performance by their pacers and, as Pandit said later, the reluctance to play a third spinner, maybe Iqbal Abdullah, on a track that had something in it for the slow bowlers.
Muzumdar felt that the middle-order collapse did his team in. He was spot on, for Mumbai crashed to 148-7 from 97-2, before Naik’s heroic 58, and the latter’s 65-run stand with Nilesh Kulkarni, rescued them. What must have irked coach Amre the most, however, was his team’s shoddy fielding.
Meanwhile, Baroda beat Saurashtra by four wickets in the other game on Friday to come within five points of Mumbai.
Brief scores
At Wankhede: Mumbai 243-9 in 50 overs (R Sharma 59, P Naik 58, S Bahutule 2-26) lost to Maharashtra 245-9 in 48.5 overs (P Deshetty 49, A Sanklecha 34 not out, S Bahutule 28, N Kulkarni 2-33, R Sharma 2-38) by one wkt
At CCI: Saurashtra 221 in 49.5 overs (S Kotak 53, R Pawar 3-38, R Patel 2-37) lost to Baroda 222-6 in 45.2 overs (C Williams 55, P Shah 49, Y Pathan 42) by four wkts
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