Irani Trophy: Mumbai Are Underdogs
By Gaurang
February 5 2013
Despite having Sachin Tendulkar on their side, and the opposition missing five recent Test players in Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Cheteshwar Pujara Mumbai are still clear underdogs in the biggest first class match on the domestic circuit.
Mumbai will be at full batting strength with Tendulkar joined by Wasim Jaffer, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane as well as new Captain Abhishek Nayar, who gets the honor in place of an injured Ajit Agarkar, who has been forced to sit out this key match. Though in the case of Mumbai, like Australia at the Test level, who is the captain is not that important, as each player is a thorough professional and knows what is their job and what needs to be done.
However in the bowling department Mumbai will be missing their two stalwarts, Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, who has not recovered from a previous injury. A lot will depend on their young spearhead, Dhawal Kulkarni, in the pace department. But given this weakness the odds are the wicket will not be quite as pacy or bouncy as the one for the Ranji final played just a few days ago.
Rest of India will be without five key players from the National squad, including the Indian Captain, Dhoni. Rumor has it that Dhoni and maybe a couple of others may turn out for their corporate side, India Cements in the Corporate Twenty20 bash that is scheduled at the same time. Of course, the rosters of the various coporate squads also include many Mumbai players, and it is inconcieveable that they would miss playing for Mumbai to play in the Corporate bash, so the names of Dhoni and Co., may also turn out to be a red herring. It is understandable that Dhoni, who carries an enoromous work load should be excused from playing the Irani Trophy, but it seems odd that youngsters like Kohli and Pujara are also not in the Rest of India squad.
Nevertheless, the talent pool in India has now increased in size and depth and there are plenty of others in the Rest of India squad who will be keen to make a big impression in this key match. Not the least of whom will be the Rest of India skipper, Virender Sehwag. He will likely be joined by Shikar Dhawan, who scored a century in each innings of the previous Irani Trophy match, as well as others like Suresh Raina, etc. who are keen on staking a claim for the upcoming Tests versus Australia and beyond.
The bottom line is that Rest of India has won 11 out of the last 13 Irani Trophy contests and Mumbai have not been successful in their last 5 Irani Trophy appearances, with their last success over 15 years ago in 1997-98. Mumbai though they have a proud history having won this tournament a record number 14 times and this time eventhough the odds are stacked against the Mumbaikars, they do have the talismanic presence of Sachin Tendulkar, and that may be even the odds a bit.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:25:00:52:09 by Birbal.
Mumbai's bowling looks gentle medium class...with none of Zaheer, agarak and last years hero balwinder sandhu playing.
Sehwag is not captaining...whihc is good.....bhajji is the 2nd spinner and captain..whihc is bad...implies the selectors have not given up on bhajji yet.
Tiwary, Raina Rayadu are fighting for a middle order slot to replace Yuvraj....althouhg instead os Raina should be Robin Bisht .
Nayar is in contention for the same slot from the otehr side.
tried tested failed Mithun should have been replaced by Pankaj singh
enhances Nayar's cahnces because after Ganguly India has dearly missed a part-time seam bowler.
besides Nayar the otehr one on the domestci circuit with such skills in Binny
That said Mumbai's attack definitely missed the class of Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. Kulkarni and Javed Khan tried manfully...though both were too short on a helpful bouncy wicket... so the batsmen could safely leave 75% of the balls on height if not line... and the others they comfortably played off the back foot.
The third seamer Shardul Thakur was a HUGE disappointment... he just released all pressure with pathetic bowling...
Abhishek Nayar is a much better third seamer than him... and guess he only got a game because both Zak and Ajit were out... but I would have picked veteral Salvi over Thakur...
If Mumbai had chosen to bat first... Sreesanth and Pandey would have given them a stern test... for sure...
Ohh I see....Mumbai chose to field first to shield tendulkar from the new ball
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:06:18:26:20 by Birbal.
MUMBAI: Virender Sehwag's upset stomach, Shardul Thakur's poor line and length, Murali Vijay's timely century and Abhishek Nayar's fighting spirit made the opening day of the Irani Cup tie, between Ranji champions Mumbai and Rest Of India (ROI), an exciting affair at the Wankhede on Wednesday.
The five-day encounter began here with the hosts winning the toss and opting to bowl first in conditions they thought would help seamers. Make no mistake, the conditions were favourable for seam bowling. However, an ordinary display of medium-pace bowling in the first session allowed the Rest of India openers, Shikhar Dhawan and M Vijay, to settle down before conditions improved for the batsmen and the pitch eased out. Dhawan departed for 63, dragging a spectacularly wide full-length delivery from Thakur on to the stumps to let an opportunity slip by.
Vijay departed for 116 and his century was largely responsible for ROI's eventual total of 330-5 at stumps. The stylish Tamil Nadu opening bat had also scored a record 266 in the corresponding game at the start of the season against Rajasthan at Bangalore. Clearly, he loves the Irani Cup!
Things could've turned out worse for Mumbai if not for Nayar's relentless 19-over spell that not only curbed the run-flow, but earned the hosts two crucial wickets of Vijay and middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary (37) who was beginning to settle down.
Vijay's fight for runs and Nayar's tenacity to claim his wicket scripted the day's story that had gone horribly wrong in the morning when Sehwag pulled out of the game with an upset stomach and Thakur erred with his line and length.
Playing without regular captain Ajit Agarkar, Mumbai were a bowler short going into the game. However, with Dhawal Kulkarni beginning impressively and Javed Khan restricting the flow of runs, it did seem like the hosts had enough arsenal to back their decision. That was, of course, until 21-year-old Thakur - showing nerves - sprayed the cherry all over the place to squander the advantage of bowling on a greenish and moist pitch.
Vijay and Dhawan, especially the former, made good use of Thakur's generosity and batted with patience till lunch. It was only after Nayar began extracting a bit of swing, with Kulkarni in tow, that Mumbai began clawing their way back into the game. The centurion survived once, when he dished out a sitter, but for Thakur's no-ball.
The match is evenly poised though, considering that Rest are five wickets down and Mumbai have a quality batting line-up led by Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer. Vijay's dismissal did not have an immediate effect on Rest of India's run-flow as the middle-order comprising Manoj Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina (36*) all made significant contributions.
Tiwary batted efficiently for his 37 but was left fuming after Nayar trapped him leg-before when the batsman had moved way outside the off-stump in trying to work the ball to the on side to beat a packed off-side field. Rayudu turned out to be the most aggressive of the lot, reaching his half-century in just 81 balls before getting caught in the slips by Wasim Jaffer off Rohit Sharma.
Sehwag has missed out on a good opportunity to get some runs before India start preparing for the Test series against Australia. However, as is the case now, his selection, almost a given, will be based more on reputation than form. At the other end of the spectrum is Vijay, who has done his chances no harm. Jaffer too can add to the selectors' headaches if he manages a three-figure score.
"... Nayar's relentless 19-over spell that not only curbed the run-flow, but earned the hosts two crucial wickets of Vijay and middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary (37) who was beginning to settle down."
W Jaffer, AM Rahane, RG Sharma, SR Tendulkar, AM Nayar
while ROI's bowling is far superior with Pandey Sreesanth and Ojha
well I had been thinking this for nearly a year now that we should turn Ryadu into a WK .
and I think that's what the selectors might be trying to have Rayadu as the next WK for test matches
Protecting Rahane and Tendulkar here.
the right thing would have been for Rahane to open
Sachin can play from memory against inferior opposition on flat wickets, but I view this more as a reflection on the pathetic state of Indian first class cricket....
There's not a SINGLE player outside of Cheteshwar Pujara on whom I have hopes of turning out into a decent Test player.....
All the rest are middling talents or lack motivation to play FC cricket or both....
24 needed with a bunny coming in at 11? No problem!
But yes Congrats to one Little Master for equalling another Little Master...
and a dumb charade if Mumbai do not chase the total