After a moral boosting win against Orissa and a draw against Punjab in their previous matches, Saurashtra will lock horns with formidable Mumbai
RAJKOT: After a moral boosting win against Orissa and a draw against Punjab in their previous matches, Saurashtra will lock horns with formidable Mumbai in the fourth round of the elite division Ranji Trophy match that begins here on Sunday.
The hosts have recovered well, after a humiliating innings defeat against Gujarat, to beat Orissa and take a vital first innings lead against Punjab en route to scoring the season's highest score of 679 for 8 declared.
Meanwhile, Mumbai lead the points table with 14 points after posting two consecutive wins over Rajasthan at home and Gujarat in Surat. They also secured three points in their last game against defending champions Delhi on the basis of a first innings lead.
Both the teams boast of a good batting order with the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer and Ravindra Jadeja dominating the season with the bat so far.
Pujara, who has already collected 499 runs from three games with the help of two centuries including an unbeaten 302 against Orissa, would be the batting mainstay for the hosts along with seasoned Sitanshu Kotak, skipper Jaydev Shah and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Jaffer and Rahane, who are among the top five batsmen in the elite division, along with Sahil Kukreja and Amol Mazumdar will shoulder similar responsibilities for Mumbai.
Bowling will be a major worry for the hosts as none of their bowlers, apart from spinner Ravindra Jadeja and seamer Sandip Jobanputra, have done the job with the ball.
On the other hand, Mumbai bowlers have done a good job so far with new-comer Dhaval Kulkarni and veteran Ramesh Powar accounting for 17 and 15 wickets respectively. However, the visitors will miss the services of former India player Ajit Agarkar.
Last season, Saurashtra had got the better of Mumbai by virtue of a first innings lead and entered the semi final.
The Teams
Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (Capt), Sitanshu Kotak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rakesh Dhruve, Sandip Jobanputra, Ravindra Jadeja, Kamlesh Makwana, Sheldon Jackson, Bhushan Chauhan, Sagar Jogiyani (WK), Jayesh Odedara, Balkrishna Jadeja, Chirag Pathak, Arpit Vasavada.
Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (Capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Sahil Kukreja, Amol Mazumdar, Vinayak Mane, Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar, Vinayak Samant, Usman Malvi, Dhaval Kulkarni, Ankit Chavan, Murtuza Hussain, Hiken Shah, Rajesh Varma and Omkar Khanvilkar.
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