Mumbai-Maharashtra Ranji

Given the recent history, this Ranji trophy clash between Mumbai and Maharashtra has some special significance... and despite what they said going into the match, some of the players atleast are bound to be on edge and have some strong feelings going into this match.

Mumbai start as favorites, being the top dog in the Elite group - especially given Maharashtra's dismal performance so far, despite a new foreign coach (Darren Holder from Australia) and a new-look team with ex-Test team stars like Bahutale and Kanitkar and future-test hopefuls like Munaf Patel (Munaf & Bahutale played for the Bombay side till last year...see earlier post about this).

Well.. Day 1...and Maharashtra predictably flounder around to a less than respectable score of 213 allout ...pretty good considering they were 137/7 at one point but reached 213 thanks to a quickfire 39 off 40 balls from Munaf Patel and 29 of 35 balls by #10 player, SR Burkul. However, Maharashtra gave some indication of putting up a fight... dismissing both openers before the close of day, leaving Mumbai at 21/2.

But the greater surprise has come on day 2... Munaf Patel strikes terror as he dismisses the top order batsmen for single digit scores leaving them reeling at 47/6. Mumbai's top order doesn't have quite a good solid feel to it this year after all the pre-season changes - and without Wasim Jaffer, who is in Pakistan, it was even more severely crippled in this match. Munaf went on to take 5 wcikets and Mumbai was dismissed for 175, giving Maharashtra a morale-boosting first innings lead! And this thanks to a gritty performance from Ramesh Pawar, who put up a great fight, reaching an unbeaten 78* before running out of partners. Ramesh Pawar, who played a few ODIs when India last toured Pakistan, regularly chips in with good performances for the Mumbai side and is one of the few players in the country with great all-round ability... I hope he is groomed and developed more and given more chances to play for India, especially in ODIs.

Lets see if Mumbai bowlers fight back on day 3 and go on to win the match for Mumbai (not an unrealistic expectation)!

Day 3: Powar takes 5 wickets in just 13.5 overs and Maharashtra crumble to 187 allout... leaving Mumbai 226 to chase to win. However, Maharashtra fight back, taking 155/7. Powar is still there and so there is hope for Mumbai but 71 runs still in arrears... might be tough!

Day 4: Well..well..well.... Maharashtra beat Mumbai!!!! Munaf Patel ^& Bahutale have the last laugh .. Mumbai, having resumed the day needing 71 runs, managed just five runs. Sairaj Bahutule got rid of Rajesh Verma while Munaf Patel removed Ramesh Powar and Nilesh Kulkarni, the overnight batsmen, to bring up the Maharashtra victory.

In another great match in this round, Bengal also stormed to the semis with a great win over Railways.. Bangar (remember him?) set Bengal a target of 303 in 54 overs with a sporting declaration (prompted probably because Railways didn't even have the luxury of a first-innings lead, the curse of domestic cricket petering to meaningless draws) and Bengal grabbed the chance with a thrilling win with 1 ball to go. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala's magnificient 139 in 135 balls and and Subhomoy Das with 83 helped Bengal reach victory... concluding a good match, compared to the usual humdrum in domestic cricket!