Ranji Trophy: Mumbai aim for the maximum against Odisha

MUMBAI: The 42-year old Pravin Tambe, who made the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team just a week ago, is in all likeliness to make his first-class debut on the morrow. Hosts Mumbai smarting from the draw they escaped with against Jharkhand as also the lack of depth in their bowling have decided to play the leg-spinner in their last home Group A league match against Odisha which begins at the Wankhede from Saturday.
Tambe's inclusion will mean that the Ranji champions will go in with two slow bowlers with left-arm orthodox Vishal Dabholkar (26 wickets this season) being the other.
The two-pronged spin strategy is also to counter the lack of depth in Mumbai's pace department. Their spearhead Zaheer Khan is on national duty in South Africa, skipper Abhishek Nayar has been ruled out as he is nursing hip and ankle injuries while medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni is yet to recover from a fractured toe. Akbar Khan, who made his debut against Vidarbha, has also fractured his hand and has been ruled out of this match. Back as captain, seasoned campaigner Wasim Jaffer backed Tambe's inclusion saying "We would look to play him. He is an experienced guy and obviously the leg spinner brings a lot of variety as well and he can also bat so that gives us a lot of cushion. He is a strong contender to be in the playing eleven."
About the new-ball bowlers, Jaffer admitted that they have looked below par. "The fast bowlers Javed (13 wkts) and Shardul Thakur (9) have done well only in patches. It will be a challenge to get the best out of them," he said.
In the absence of Nayar, the hosts may also look to play the young and tall pace bowler Kshemal Waingankar.
Mumbai lead the table with 20 points from five games, while Odisha have 10. But the fact that the visitors have defeated Jharkhand and that Mumbai's performance has been dipping makes Jaffer a worried man. "The last game (vs Jharkhand) was a wake up call. But when someone pays a blinder like Saurabh Tiwary did scoring 238 out of 350, you can't do much about it. We need to pull it up again. We are looking to get a lot of points out of this game, which will probably see us through to the knockouts," he said.
A backbone in the department batting himself, Jaffer backed the youngsters to come good. "Kaustubh (Pawar) hasn`t done much, Sushant (Marathe) is playing after a couple of seasons. Siddhesh (Lad) is playing his first season. We are quite young in batting department but they are all talented. They just need to click and need just one good innings to get their confidence back," Jaffer said.
In contrast, Mumbai's rivals seemed at ease and Odisha captain Biplab Samantray said, "We have been doing well as a team and are eager to do well against a champion side. We will try and play to our potential and get the best results.
"We beating Jharkhand and they giving Mumbai a scare has shown that in cricket anything can happen on a particular day. We will stick to the basics and look for that outside chance to grabbing points. We have the confidence," stressed the 24-year-old.