Domestic heavyweight Mumbai will aim to extend its winning streak when it faces a depleted Saurashtra side in an Elite Group B third-round match of the Ranji Trophy in Mumbai from Tuesday.
The two teams have been pitted against one another in multiple high-stakes matches in recent seasons across formats, and Mumbai has managed to hold the upper hand. Ajinkya Rahane’s men had edged out Saurashtra in the quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in November before marching to clinch their first title.
The teams had even met in the opening round of the pruned 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season earlier this year when Mumbai pipped the opposition for the first-innings lead during a high-scoring match that ended in a draw in Ahmedabad.
However, conditions would be heavily stacked against Saurashtra as it enters the contest without its senior pros in regular skipper Jaydev Unadkat and Cheteshwar Pujara, who were part of the national Test squad in Bangladesh.
While Mumbai leads the charts with 13 points in a group packed with high-profile sides, Saurashtra has only managed six points after salvaging the first-innings lead in draws against Assam and Maharashtra.
Despite putting up hefty runs on board in both games, Saurashtra has missed the sustained precision of Unadkat with the ball. In his absence, left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya will continue to spearhead the attack after picking nine wickets from the previous rounds.
Meanwhile, Mumbai, which narrowly missed the outright win in the opening round against Andhra Pradesh, made up for the lost point when it walloped Hyderabad for an innings win. A double century from Rahane and brisk centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan have kept the home side in good stead. However, Saurashtra would be most wary of the belligerent Suryakumar Yadav, who cracked an 80-ball 90 on his return last week.
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