Ranji Trophy: Mumbai eye revenge vs depleted Delhi

MUMBAI: Delhi captain Ayush Badoni and opener Priyansh Arya were released from the team’s squad on Wednesday, just a day ahead of the last Ranji Trophy league-stage clash against Mumbai at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s facility at BKC as they were called up for the India A squad for the T20 World Cup warm-up games.India A will play the USA in their first warm-up match at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Feb 2, and then Namibia in the second match on Feb 6 at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.That meant Ayush Doseja, who is the highest run-getter of the season in the Ranji Trophy with 790 runs in six matches at 98.75, with three hundreds and five 50s and a highest score of 209, will be Delhi’s stand-in captain in his debut season. Delhi are already out of contention for the knockouts.Tough rivalry, sans context A Delhi versus Mumbai clash in domestic cricket generally attracts attention, but this time, both lack star power and the lack of context has robbed this fixture of charm. With 30 points in six matches, which includes four outright wins, Mumbai are currently topping Elite Group D and have already qualified for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in style-.As group toppers, Mumbai will play all their knockout fixtures at home.Delhi on the other hand have floundered, failing to record an outright win, drawing five of their games while losing one. The game does offer Mumbai a chance to avenge their eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Delhi in an away match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium back in Jan 2023. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan, who got to the milestone of 5,000 First Class runs, during the course of his double century vs Hyderabad, said “I’m very happy to score 5,000 runs so early in my career. It’s a special moment.When I used to play at the Azad Maidan, I used to think that if I play in the Ranji Trophy, that would be a big achievement in life. Abbu used to tell me stories about Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar. It’s not so easy to score so many runs, playing home and away, so consistently,” Sarfaraz said. Meanwhile, both teams will hold a two-minute silence and wear black armbands to mourn the passing of deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who died in an air crash on Wednesday.