‘Will be surprised if we don’t win trophy’

Mumbai players during their match against Uttarakhand at Alur, near Bangalore yesterday. Pic/Mumbai Cricket Association

Former Mumbai captain and chief selector Milind Rege has stopped short of predicting a 42nd Ranji Trophy title triumph for Mumbai.

"I will be very surprised if Mumbai do not win the Ranji Trophy this year. The performance of our players has been tremendous and everybody is contributing. The preparation was fantastic under the coach [Amol Muzumdar]. Everything is going according to plan and they are working very hard," Rege told mid-day after Mumbai demolished Uttarakhand by a world record 725-run margin in Alur, near Bangalore on Thursday, to enter the semi-finals of the national championships.

Milind Rege

Mumbai broke Australian side New South Wales' 92-year-old Sheffield Shield record of a 685-run margin against Queensland.

The previous record for the highest margin in the Ranji Trophy was held by Bengal, who defeated Odisha by 540 runs in 1953-54.

Mumbai meet UP in semis

Mumbai's world record came a day after Bengal broke a 129-year-old one with all their nine batters scoring half-century in a single innings against Jharkhand in another quarter-final. Mumbai will now meet Uttar Pradesh in the semi-finals of the prestigious domestic competition.

"The Mumbai team will not let things slip in the semi-finals. Those people [support staff] who are seated in the dugout are good enough to tell you what to do or what not to do. Amol will grab this opportunity," insisted Rege, who was part of teams when Mumbai dominated Indian cricket in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Complete domination

The 41-time Ranji Trophy champions, who dominated right from the first-day, declared their second innings at 261-3 and thus set Uttarakhand an improbable 794-run target. They had piled up 647-8 declared in their first essay, riding on a maiden double hundred from debutant Suved Parkar (252).

Uttarakhand, who were bundled out for partly 114 in their first essay, once again capitulated in front of the Mumbai bowlers, as they were bundled out for just 69 in the second innings.

"I have been speaking about Suved for a long time. I have seen him score at the U-23 level, but better late than never. He has showcased that same temperament in first-class cricket," said Rege, who was also pleased with the performance of Shams Mulani. "Shams is bowling like a match-winner in every game. His efforts are Padmakar Shivalkar-like. Paddy [Shivalkar's nickname] took five wickets in an innings as a habit and Shams is doing the same. Mind you, I am not comparing anybody, but he reminds me of Shivalkar's consistency and success. It's really fantastic. He is a brilliant all-rounder too. The Indian selectors have to give him a look-in," stressed Rege, 73, whose selection committee blooded current Mumbai captain Prithvi Shaw in 2016-17.

With inputs from PTI

Brief scores
Mumbai 647-8d & 261-3d (Y Jaiswal 103, P Shaw 72, A Tare 57) beat Uttarakhand 114 & 69 (S Khurana 25; D Kulkarni 3-11, T Kotian 3-13, S Mulani 3-15) by 725 runs