Mumbai won’t have to fight it out only against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy, but also the chilly weather in the northern state when they lock horns in the four-day quarterfinal knockout match in Rohtak from Thursday.
However, Mumbai coach Praveen Amre is not at all worried about the conditions as they had already reached the venue a couple of days before the match, to get acclimatised to it. “Locals say that the conditions will worsen in the next few days, but our main aim is to get through to the next stage come what may. It was very chilly in the morning but later in the day it got better,” Amre said.
The defending champions had a tough time in the league stage, but were lucky to have advanced to the next stage despite finishing third in their group. Hence, they will have to pull up their socks and put up a better show than their previous performances which will give them the momentum before they take on tougher opponents if they move to the next stage.
“We did not do well in the league stages but we will have to be on top from the word go if we have to make the semis and final to build the momentum,” Amre added.
As far as the wicket is concerned, the former Test cricketer termed it as a “good four-day wicket”. “In the last seven matches we have not won the toss. So it doesn’t matter, but the wicket looks good and can go on for four days,” Amre said.
There won’t be any major change in the side and will go in with the same line-up which they had fielded against Gujarat. But there is a fitness issue with seamer Avishkar Salvi who did the turnaround for Mumbai in getting the first innings lead against Parthiv Patel’s side. “There is a bit of fitness problem with him but physio is working hard,” he added.
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