It seems ‘debutants’ are bringing luck for the Mumbai Ranji side. Last year, when Amol Muzumdar and Praveen Amre were appointed as captain and coach, they clinched the Ranji Trophy and Ranji One-dayers. Now, with Vinayak Mane making his debut as a skipper this season, Mumbai won the Mohd. Nissar Trophy beating Karachi Urban on virtue of their first innings lead.
This win will be a special one for the Mumbai side as five debutants - Ajinkya Rahane, Prashant Naik, Omkar Gurav, Iqbal Abdulla and Vikrant Yelligeti made their way into the team after senior players were unavailable for different reasons. With Wasim Jaffer injured, Amol Muzumdar on club county commitments, Nilesh Kulkrani backing out at the last moment, Rohit Sharma and Ramesh Powar on national duty, the Mumbai side had landed at the port-city without its key players.
Skipper Vinayak Mane, who made his debut a sensational one as skipper by winning the Buchi Babu tournament, says, “It’s a very nice feeling, it’s hard to express. It becomes more special because we have won outside India.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a cash award of $5,000 for the Mumbai team.
Interestingly, Mane played only two Ranji Trophy matches last year and was later dropped from the squad. Mane had never dreamt of leading the side one day as senior players like Amol Muzumdar and Nilesh Kulkarni were always around. “When I was a player, we won two Ranji Trophy titles under coach Chandrakant Pandit and it was a strong side. Now I’m leading a young side and winning the trophy. It feels great,” says a delighted Mane.
Earlier in the match, Karachi Urban had won the toss and decided to invite Mumbai to bat first. When quizzed if Karachi Urban had paid dearly for mis-reading the pitch, Mane quickly said, “Yes, unki ek galti unhe bhari padi. They never thought that the pitch will help batsman.”
Mumbai Cricket Association chief-selector Dilip Vengsarkar lauded the effort of the young team, saying, “It’s a fantastic win for us. I can’t say whether the debutants are lucky for us but these players have grabbed the opportunity and everyone has done their job.”
Further the former India skipper added, “I think these players have made winning a habit, which is good for us,”
If one goes back to the selection process, the MCA had no option left but to send a bunch of youngsters to Pakistan. “What I have heard is that they were put in to bat on a green top, but the way Sahil Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane batted, it was incredible,” praised Vengsarkar.
Cricketers turn reporters!
The Mumbai dressing room was abuzz after they won their four-day battle against Karachi Urban on Tuesday. With loud music and cheering all round, the Mumbai players had a wonderful evening at the Karachi Stadium.
With a few scribes covering the match, and none from India, Mumbai’s players, who are used to posing for the shutterbugs after any major win, decided to have their own photo shoot. Some of the players having personal cameras and handy-cams started their own interviews and Mumbai coach, Praveen Amre was not to be left behind.
Amre assumed the reporter’s role and mock-quizzed the players: “How do you feel? How was the experience?”
Later it was the turn for group photos and another player then imitated TV journalists, saying: “Aap dekh sakte hain ki is samay kitni khushi hai yahaan Mumbai dressing room mein,” followed by a roar of laughter.