Chasing 212 through 32 overs was difficult, but Mumbai made one attempt and the home side went 137 for 3.
Ultimately, Mumbai settled for a draw with Tamil Nadu in his fourth group of Ranji trophies in his game where he scored three important points.
Chasing 212 in 32 overs was difficult, but Mumbai made his one try and home his side scored 137 for his three.
However, Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane believes such intense matches make first-class cricket more exciting.
“It was a very good match,” he said. That’s what you want to see in first-class cricket…a team striving for (overall victory). It was tough for the fast bowlers. We had our chances, we missed catches, we made mistakes, but that’s part of the game,” Rahane said.
The Brabourne Stadium surface he rotated quite a bit throughout the day, benefiting the spinners. Rahane accepted the fact that chasing the total was a challenge as Tamil Nadu opened the field wide and wicket slowed down. “It was a challenge to see the wicket and boundaries…every fielder was on the perimeter. The wicket was really slow. I wanted to make sure every hitter was hitting there. Keeping the ball I didn’t want to take that stance. Strike rotation was key.” But openers Yashasvi Jaiswar and Prithvi Shaw showed intent and after scoring 30 runs in four overs, the latter buckled behind the stumps at the safe hand of Tamil Nadu’s clumsy N Jagadeethan.
“We got off to a good start. But the message from us was to play regular cricket. Let’s see what happens after 15-16 overs. Hold the gate, it’s was our plan. If I get the chance, if I can play normal cricket on wickets… I’ll try to bat proper cricket. But it was a challenge,” revealed Rahane.
In 15.3 overs he had two wickets down to 94 Mumbai slowly changed their approach following the sacking of his Jafar, with captain Rahane having regular talks with Jaiswar and taking advantage of the ball rather than rushing. and asked to play.
“The ball was spinning, it was slow. So our plan was to get 1 and 2 and then try to win…”
Ideally, with the qualifying race heating up, Mumbai would have wanted to pick up all six points before traveling to Guwahati for the league match against Assam on Saturday morning. Captain Rahane thinks that’s the beauty of the competition.
“That’s the beauty of the Ranji Trophy. You have to give your best in every match. As you can see, our group is the toughest. Instead of focusing on the past or future, we should focus on all games. We play very good cricket as a team. It’s all about those little moments…you have to win those little moments with the Ranji Trophy,” he said.
“If he puts in one or two great efforts on the field, he can always be in the game. Don’t think too far ahead. Playing in Assam and Delhi… You never know what the weather will be like, so he’ll try one game at a time and see what happens…”
Mumbai are second in the group with 16 points from four games, while Saurashtra are top with 19 points.