MUMBAI: Having won their first three games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy — against Baroda, Karnataka and Railways in Bengaluru handsomely — Mumbai are currently on a roll in the One-Day tournament.
On Sunday, they thrashed Railways by 173 runs. After electing to bat, Mumbai piled up 400 for five in 50 overs, with Shreyas Iyer (144, 118b, 8x4, 10x6) and
Prithvi Shaw (129, 81b, 14x4, 6x6) hitting blistering hundreds. The 18-year-old Shaw took just 61 balls to reach his hundred. Mumbai then bundled out the opposition for 227 in 42.4 overs, with Shams Mulani returning with figures of three for 26. Mumbai are only the second team in domestic
cricket
to record a 400- plus score in the tournament, after Madhya Pradesh made 412 for six against Railways in 2010.
On Monday, Mumbai’s Elite Group A clash against Vidarbha at Alur was abandoned due to rain, leading the teams to share points. However, when the domestic giants resume their campaign after a three-day break, on September 28 against Punjab, they will miss three of their inform batsmen — skipper
Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer.
For their next two games, on September 28 (against Punjab) & 30 (against Himachal),
Dhawal Kulkarni will be the stand-in captain. The experienced seamer has been given this responsibility for the first time. Like Kulkarni, Iyer too will get a chance to make his captaincy debut for Mumbai when he returns to the Mumbai team after missing two matches — he and Shaw are supposed to play for Board President’s XI against the touring West Indies in Baroda, in a two-day game from September 28.
Opener Akhil Herdwadkar and middle-order batsman Shubham Ranjane will replace Rahane and Iyer, while no replacement has been announced for Shaw.
“Dhawal has been bowling really well. He’s a focused and disciplined player. He’s a senior, experienced player, and I expect Aditya Tare and Suryakumar Yadav (both former captains) to help him out. We’re playing well as a unit,” Mumbai coach Vinayak Samant told TOI on Monday.
“For us, the real competition starts now. We’ll miss three of our top players, and we play some tough teams from here,” he added.
Set to play for India in the first Test against the West Indies at Rajkot from October 4, Rahane left for Mumbai on Monday night. “He’s been asked to report to Rajkot by September 30,” a source told TOI. Playing as an opener, Rahane shrugged off poor form which dogged him during the five-Test series in England to log scores of 79*, 148 & 3.
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