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Once upon a time the Indian team was filled with players from Mumbai, which was said to be the nursery of Indian cricket. But the long periods of Mumbai's invincibility in the Ranji Trophy soon came to an end. And nothing illustrates that better than the composition of the current Indian team, which has just two Mumbai players -- Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar -- who can consistently make it to the starting line-up.
Why Mumbai's stock has taken such a beating could be seen from the team's showing on day 2 of the Ranji Trophy final, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Monday.
Mumbai, who have won the Ranji Trophy 34 times, added only one run to their overnight score before being bundled out for 260 in their first innings by Tamil Nadu, four minutes into the day's proceedings, and then turned in a shoddy display in the field, as the visitors posted 223 for 4, 37 runs adrift, by the end of the day.
Overnight 259 for 9, Mumbai quickly folded as last-man Aavishkar Salvi was out without scoring, off the last ball of the first over of the day. Wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant remained unbeaten on 17.
Paceman Lakshapathy Balaji, who claimed the last Mumbai wicket, ended up with 2 for 37.
The most successful Tamil Nadu bowler was skipper S Suresh, who bagged three vital middle-order wickets, conceding 51 runs in the process.
Tamil Nadu's reply to the hosts' not-so-daunting total got off to a disastrous start, when they lost Suresh with just four runs on the board. However, Test discard Sadagoppan Ramesh and Sridharan Sriram (26) put on 68 runs for the second wicket, before Sriram was caught by Samant off the bowling of Ajit Agarkar.
The partnership between Ramesh, who benefited from two dropped catches, and Sriram was not very convincing, but it prevented a possible slide and kept the Mumbai attack at bay.
Ramesh's first slice of luck came early in the innings, when Mumbai skipper Paras Mhambrey missed a caught and bowled chance, when the left-hander was on 15. Then Ramesh Powar dropped him at extra-cover, off Mhambrey, when the batsman was on 28 out of a total of 49.
S Badrinath (42) took Sriram's place in the middle and continued the good work. The cricket was not very exciting and Mumbai's ground fielding was pathetic at times. Maybe, it is one of the prime reasons why the final of India's biggest domestic tournament has failed to attract a decent crowd.
The visitors could add just 52 runs for the loss of Badrinath between lunch and tea, off 30 overs. The partnership between Ramesh and Badrinath yielded 59 runs off 33.1 overs. The Mumbai bowlers bowled to a plan but the going was painfully slow.
At tea, Tamil Nadu were 136 for 3. But things speeded up considerably thereafter. The post-tea session yielded 87 runs, which, compared to the earlier session, was a windfall.
Hemang Badani's arrival was god-sent; he looked to play his shots and that helped get Ramesh out of his shell as well.
Things looked cozy for Tamil Nadu as they cruised to 200 for the loss of just three wickets. But, then, Bahutule struck. As he has so many times in the international arena, Ramesh (85) suffered a lapse in concentration and edged the leg-spinner to Vinayak Mane, at first slip.
It was a sedate innings by Ramesh's standards. The normally aggressive former India opener faced 202 deliveries, off which he hit 10 boundaries.
After Ramesh's departure, 12.3 overs before close, Tamil Nadu decided to shut shop. Badani (46 not out) and S Sharath (10 not out), played cautiously, adding 21 runs, to end the day on 223 for the loss of four wickets.
A first innings lead will give Tamil Nadu victory, but one gets the feeling they will only be satisfied with an outright win.
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