NAGPUR: The Col CK Nayudu Trophy final between Vidarbha and Mumbai would be headlined by two left-arm spinners who have driven their respective teams to the summit clash. Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey and Mumbai's Shams Mulani have been the prime reasons their sides find themselves in the final, starting Sunday. The form of the two lefties would be a major factor in deciding who lays hands on the trophy.
Dubey has been the man to bank upon for Vidarbha. When in trouble, he has thrown hat in the ring and bailed them out. The opposition will be wary of what the 19-year-old brings to the table.
While Vidarbha have addressed most of their tricky situations through Dubey, Mumbai have found their match-winner in Mulani. Their numbers speak of their dominance. Dubey has gobbling up 34 wickets in five matches while Mulani has grabbed 21 wickets in just the two matches he played (both knockouts) in this tournament. The venue - The Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad - is Mulani's favourite too. He has also accounted for a whopping 50 wickets in five games including Ranji Trophy at the very stadium.
Since the Ahmedabad pitch is known for its slow nature, spinners are expected to play a vital role. That automatically puts both the left-arm spinners - Dubey and Mulani - in focus.
After the confidence boosting semifinal victory over Madhya Pradesh in Vadodara, defending champions Vidarbha will have a different challenge of playing at a new venue where Mumbai have already scripted two convincing victories in the last 10 days.
Though Vidarbha are firing on all cylinders, the Mulani factor will play on their mind. The Siddesh Wath-led side has all the departments playing at their best.
