The current Ranji season has not shaped up the way defending champions Mumbai would have hoped. After securing only one outright win from seven outings, Mumbai huffed and puffed their way into the knockouts and are desperately looking to make amends against Haryana. Mumbai finished third in Group A, behind Tamil Nadu and Punjab, with 19 points. “We had a very ordinary league stage. Now, as we have made it to the last eight, it has provided us an opportunity to make a fresh beginning to our campaign and we are going to be back stronger,' said Mumbai coach Pravin Amre.
The Mumbai team, which boasts one of the strongest batting lineups in the domestic circuit, has been plagued by inconsistency, especially at the top of the order. “With a highest stand of 40, our openers have failed to provide us with a start in all seven games. Last season we were provided with solid starts and this was one of the main reasons for our dominance. We need to sort this issue in this do-or-die game,” said Amre.
Bowling is another cause for concern. Mumbai's bowlers have struggled in all matches and no one has been able to bag a single five-wicket haul. “To post an outright victory we need to take 20 wickets which we have not managed so far. We have a very experienced bowling attack and I am confident that they will come good in the knockout stage,” said the Mumbai coach.
Haryana, who are making a comeback in the Elite group after two years, want to make their presence felt. “It's a very important match for us. We need to step up and show that we are good enough to compete with the big boys,” said Haryana coach Ashwani Kumar. “We have the home advantage and will be playing our third consecutive match on the same ground. We have done well against them Mumbai in the past so I don't see any reason why we can do that again,” said Kumar. In bowling , Iqbal Abdulla has been most successful with 24 scalps while Haryana's S Budhwar has 20 wickets.
{{/usCountry}}Haryana, who are making a comeback in the Elite group after two years, want to make their presence felt. “It's a very important match for us. We need to step up and show that we are good enough to compete with the big boys,” said Haryana coach Ashwani Kumar. “We have the home advantage and will be playing our third consecutive match on the same ground. We have done well against them Mumbai in the past so I don't see any reason why we can do that again,” said Kumar. In bowling , Iqbal Abdulla has been most successful with 24 scalps while Haryana's S Budhwar has 20 wickets.
{{/usCountry}}Mumbai: W Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, Harmeet Singh, Iqbal Abdulla, O. Khanvilkar, S. Kukreja, D.Kulkarni, U.Malvi, S. Marathe, P. Naik, A. Nayar, A. Rahane, A. Salvi, V. Samant, R. Sharma.
Haryana: Amit Mishra, Sunny Singh, Rahul Dewan, Vishal Sahni, Abhishek Bhati, Lalit Bhati, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhruv Singh, Joginder Sharma, Sachin Rana, Ankit Rawat, Nitin Saini, Manav Sharma, Sumeet Sharma, Gaurav Vishist, Sanjay Budhwar.