The Mumbai vs Haryana Ranji Trophy clash has been moved out of Lahli, latter’s home venue to Kolkata, and that might have some significant repercussions. While Ajinkya Rahane‘s team made the last eight after finishing second in the points table in Group A, with with 29 points, Haryana made the cut after topping Group C with as many points.
Haryana’s Excellent Record at Home
But the venue change might just hurt Ashok Menaria’s team more than Mumbai. For starters, they won’t really have the home advantage — in Lahli, Rohtak, where they have played three matches, won two and drawn one. In the match against Bihar, they were exceptional, where they won by an innings and 43 runs, and then vs Punjab where they won by 37 runs.
As for their third match against Kerala, it wasn’t their best outing, but then managed to get some strong performances out there. Talking about individual brilliance by Haryana players at Lahli Ground this year, Jayant Yadav came up with an all-round show vs Bihar, where he scored 55 runs, and also picked up seven wickets in the match.
No Spin Assist in Kolkata
Then against Punjab it was Nishant Sindhu, who shone with the ball and bagged 11 wickets. Of course, who can forget Anshul Kambojs’ 10-wicket haul against Kerala.. in short, Lahli offered a pitch that suited their bowlers well, and where all the opposition batters struggled. Now, they have been robbed off that advantage for sure.
Now, they would be in an unknown territory, where bowling might not be that easy. This year, in the two matches played in Kolkata — Bengal vs Kerala and Bengal vs Punjab, both have been decently high scoring games, where teams managed to score in excess of 340 in the first innings. So certainly, it will be a tough nut to crack for the Haryana bowlers.
Advantage to Mumbai’s All-condition Team
Talking about batting, Mumbai might have gotten lucky since the match has been moved to batting-friendly Kolkata, as their batters have been in fine nick. Siddhesh Lad has scored 518 runs in 5 matches, at an average of 86, followed by Shreyas Iyer – 480 in 5 at an average of 68. Ayush Mhatre also has 413 in 6 outings, which is as good as what best Haryana batters have managed.
Their best batsman, Ankit Kumar has scored 427 in 7 matches at a average of 38. He is followed by Himanshu Rana, who has scored 424 jn as many matches, at an average of 42. Next is Nishant Sindhu, with 333 in 5 at an average of 47. Mumbai bowlers, who have been excellent — with Shams Mulani picking 34 wickets, and Mohit Avasthi and Shardul Thakur picking 24 each, Haryana batting won’t be much of an issue for them.
Mumbai Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Amogh Bhatkal, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Akash Anand (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Suryansh Shedge, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Mohit Avasthi, Sylvester D’Souza, Royston Dias, Atharva Ankolekar, Harsh Tanna.
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