Mumbai will be without injured pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni for their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Madhya Pradesh, starting February 13, at Cuttack.
Mumbai's bid to clinch their 41st Ranji Trophy crown, and the first after two seasons, got a significant boost with the availability of fit-again pacer Dhawal Kulkarni for the final against Saurashtra in Pune. Kulkarni missed the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh at Cuttack, after picking up an injury during their quarter-final victory over Jharkhand at Mysuru. Other than his inclusion, the Mumbai selectors have retained the squad that secured their place for their 45th title clash in Cuttack. Significantly, when Mumbai clinched their 40th crown, Saurashtra were their opponents in the 2012-13 season. The five-day final will begin on February 24.
Mumbai held a slight edge reducing Madhya Pradesh to 197 for five in their Ranji Trophy cricket semi-final after being bowled out for 371 in their first innings, in Cuttack, on Sunday.
Shreyas Iyer struck a sublime 90 to take Mumbai to 327 for seven on day one of their semi-final against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, in Cuttack, on Saturday.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Defending champions Mumbai needed just 22 minutes and 31 balls to wrap up a massive 338-run victory over minnows Vidarbha and log six points to shoot to the top of the Ranji Trophy Group A table at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
A summary of the Ranji Trophy Group A and Group B matches played across India on Sunday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Thursday...
A summary of the opening day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches, at various venues over the country.
A summary of the day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at different venues around the country.
Round Up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country
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