Email
Print
ShareMumbai: Defending champions Mumbai will miss the services of Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar and Ajinkya Rahane for the Ranji Trophy encounter against Orissa beginning on Tuesday at the Brabourne Stadium, but skipper Wasim Jaffer is confident that his depleted side can still go on and win their first home game.
While Sharma, Nayar and Rahane will turn out for the Board President's(BP) XI against the Sri Lankans, a side strain will keep off-spinner Ramesh Powar out for "at least three weeks".
"We want to win outright and we have capable players. Orissa are a good side and even though we will miss three key batsmen (Rohit, Ajinkya and Abhishek), we have three very good bowlers in Zaheer (Khan), Ajit (Agarkar) and Dhaval (Kulkarni)," Jaffer told DNA after the team's three-hour practice session on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Kulkarni was named in the BP squad but it emerged that the youngster won't figure in the playing XI. "Once I learnt that he's (Kulkarni) not going to feature in the match, I requested chief selector Kris Srikkanth to release him for Mumbai," coach Praveen Amre said.
Meanwhile Powar, who carried his bat with a phenomenal 125 in the season opener against Punjab, will miss Mumbai's next two games. It has transpired that Powar played that match-saving knock in total pain. "When he was batting on 25, the physio attended to him. He downed a few painkillers and then went on to score 100 more! However, he was in no position to take the field during Punjab's second innings," a team source said.
"He played a great knock but we certainly missed Ramesh the bowler," Jaffer said.
Mumbai took the first innings lead thanks to a 163-run stand for the 8th wicket between Powar and Onkar Khanvilkar, and were assured of 3 points. Punjab hung in despite losing 7 wickets in their second innings and if Powar was there, Jaffer would have been chuckling and not just smiling.
