A Tamil Nadu-Mumbai match in Ranji Trophy is considered one of the marquee clashes in Indian domestic cricket. Come Saturday, yet another such clash is upon us at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here.
The teams are far from where they would want to be after two defeats and not a lot of points on the board in the race for a place in the knockouts.
The home team comes into the game with just four points from as many games and needs to win almost all the remaining four games to progress.
A good thing, though, for TN is that the team is almost at full strength with the return of R. Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Abhinav Mukund and B. Indrajith, playing his first match for the State in nearly 10 months after shoulder surgery. Speaking on Friday, coach D. Vasu said the team had made a turn-around in its last game against UP in Kanpur taking the first innings lead in a close low-scoring encounter and is ready to go for the kill.
“We have to go for outright wins in every game, otherwise, we have no chance of qualifying.”
Following defeats in its last two games (vs Railways and Karnataka), things have gotten tougher for Mumbai with key players, including in-form skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane, missing due to National duties, while Prithvi Shaw injured his shoulder in the last game.
Senior players like Aditya Tare, who leads the side in Suryakumar’s absence, and Siddhesh Lad have struggled to get runs and would need to step up, given that it’s a young team.
The way forward
Tare said, “We have our backs against the wall. The only way forward is to play aggressive and positive cricket. For all the young players to come and play in the situation, it is going to test our character.”
While Mumbai is better placed with one win and five games in hand, the home team will hold a slight edge thanks to the return of senior players.
