No Tamil Nadu batsman features in the top-10 run-getters’ list in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, with Kaushik Gandhi placed 11th.
For Mumbai, the season’s top run-getter is Shreyas Iyer at a distant 44th. The situation doesn’t change much in the wicket-takers’ list either. K. Vignesh of Tamil Nadu is placed ninth, while Vijay Gohil occupies a lowly joint 46th position.
Despite the lack of individual brilliance on a consistent basis, the most important bit for both teams is they will face each other in the semifinal from Sunday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium on the outskirts of the laid-back Kathiawari city.
That both have made it to the last four without a stand-out performance by a batsman or bowler throughout the season also indicates the collective performance, a must for brilliance in a team sport.
No wonder defending champion Mumbai has remained unbeaten in the tournament so far, while Tamil Nadu has not been beaten since it lost the tournament-opener to Mumbai in Lahli almost three months ago.
Teamwork is not the lone common factor. They have been plagued by similar problems as well.
The opening combination has been a big cause of concern. As a result, Prithvi Shaw, the teenage prodigy, is set to make his First Class debut for Mumbai on Saturday, thus becoming the seventh batsman to be tried out as an opener.
Tamil Nadu has also struggled and used five different opening combinations. It will be interesting to see if the TN think-tank persists with Gandhi as a makeshift opener or gives another go to L. Suryapprakash, who hasn’t yet set the stage on fire.
The big difference between the teams has been the consistency of Tamil Nadu’s pace unit with K. Vignesh (37 wickets at 19.83), Aswin Crist (34 at 25.70) and T. Natarajan (23 at 29.95) delivering.
On the other hand, with leading pacer Dhawal Kulkarni missing a majority of the season due to a knee injury, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande and Balwinder Singh Sandhu have failed to run through sides consistently.
In fact, had it not been for Abhishek Nayar’s vital contributions with the bat and ball, Mumbai would have struggled to first sail through to the knockouts and then make it to the last four.
Despite the numbers being stacked against them, Aditya Tare’s boys will have history riding in their favour.
Can Abhinav Mukund’s troop script Tamil Nadu’s first victory over the domestic giant away from home? We will know the answer by January 5.
The teams (from):
Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (capt.), Vijay Shankar, B. Aparajith, B. Indrajith, M. Kaushik Gandhi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), N. Jagadeesan (wk), Aswin Crist, K. Vignesh, T. Natarajan, R. Aushik Srinivas, Rahil Shah, Malolan Rangarajan, L. Suryaprakash, Ganga Sridhar Raju, M. Mohammed and L. Vignesh.
Mumbai: Aditya Tare (capt. & wk), Praful Waghela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk), Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap, Eknath Kerkar and Prithvi Shaw.
Umpires: Virender Sharma and Abhijit Deshmukh. Match referee: Sunil Chaturvedi.
