“We thrive in big games, facing big teams and big challenges,” said Mumbai captain Aditya Tare about his team’s Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ face-off against Tamil Nadu at the Bandra Kurla Complex from Thursday.
How will Murali Vijay’s return to the visiting side affect the impending contest?
“Taking on teams with Test players is nothing new to us and tomorrow’s is another game,” said Tare.
The weather could impact the confrontation though. “Mumbai in October is worse than it is in summer.
“This is only the third game and our players are fit for these tough conditions,” continued the 40-time champion side’s skipper.
Good pitch He described the strip as a good four-day pitch. On the opposition, he said TN was a good side. “We don’t rate sides tough or soft, but we take every game seriously.
“We are, however, concentrating more on how our boys are playing and how we can improve as a team,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said.
Deriving the positives from a victory by an innings in its last game against Punjab, he said, “Everyone chipped in. When seven to eight of the boys perform, it’s a good sign and winning is always good for confidence.” Abhishek Nayar not being in the thick of the action seemed of little concern to Tare.
“His return to form is only a matter of time. Abhishek has had injury issues but has been a match-winner for us so many times,” he stressed.
Tare’s counterpart Abhinav Mukund is equally optimistic. “We have got off to a sound start, useful contributions getting us good wins that have given us great momentum,” said the touring captain.
To him Vijay’s availability is a definite plus.
“He looks to contribute as much as he can when turning out for this team. I enjoy batting with him,” added the top order southpaw at Tamil Nadu’s helm.
Asked whether he was sure Mumbai was hotter than Chennai, Abhinav said with a laugh that the host city was the hottest in the country. “We’ll need to hydrate ourselves,” he countered.
On the prospects of the impending encounter, he said it would be even. Badrinath’s double century after TN was reeling at 50 for five will be a lasting memory of a game at this venue, Abhinav added.
Former Mumbai and India skipper Ajit Wadekar shrugged off Mumbai’s sluggish start, where it conceded the first innings lead to Andhra. “It’s an aberration. Mumbai needs a bit of a shock at the start,” he said.
The teams (from):
Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (capt.), Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, L. Balaji, B. Aparajith, B. Indrajith, R. Prasanna, J. Kousik, Malolan Rangarajan, A. Aswin Crist, L. Vignesh, Rahil Shah, D.T. Chandrasekar, M. Mohammed, U. Sushil, Kaushik Gandhi.
Mumbai: Aditya Tare (capt.), Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Siddesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Shrideep Mangela, Nikhil Patil (Jr.), Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (jr.), Vishal Dabholkar, Abhishek Raut, Badre Alam, Harmeet Singh.
