Ranji Trophy

When Mumbai and Jammu & Kashmir locked horns in a Ranji Trophy fixture in January this year, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the batting for the 42-time champion. Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur, all with nous at the highest level, added further heft to the Mumbai camp. Yet, the team from India’s northernmost region, with no international experience in its playing eleven, upset the odds by clinching a five-wicket victory at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Mumbai to aid its entry to the quarterfinals for just the third time in its history.

Explosive: Sarfaraz will be eager to fire.
| Photo Credit:
File Photo : B. Jothi Ramalingam

The two teams will meet again in the opening round of the new Ranji season in an Elite Group-D clash here from Wednesday.

Even though Mumbai went on to reach the semifinals last season where it lost to eventual champion Vidarbha, it has opted for a change of leadership at the start of a fresh campaign. It underlines the fact that anything less than winning the Ranji title is construed as a failure in Mumbai’s ultra-competitive ecosystem.

A view of the match venue in Srinagar.
| Photo Credit:
IMRAN NISSAR

Shardul, who smashed 51 and 119 in the previous encounter between these teams, has taken over the captaincy from Rahane. While Shreyas has pulled out of red-ball cricket for the next six months owing to back spasms, Mumbai’s 16-member squad for the first game still boasts a strong look with Sarfaraz Khan and Dube included.

For Sarfaraz, who has recovered from a quadriceps injury, this is a chance to resume scoring a big volume of runs and press his case for a recall to India’s Test outfit.

Stern test

With temperatures starting to dip in the north as winter approaches, Sarfaraz and the other Mumbai batters will face a stern test from an impressive pack of pacers that includes Umran Malik, Aaqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh and Umar Nazir.