A recharged Mumbai are keen to give Punjab a tough fight when they take on the Yuvraj Singh-led team at the Wankhede Stadium on October 8, 2015 in the second round of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season. The Aditya Tare-led team have been toiling at the Wankhede Stadium as they look to open their account under the wins column.
The team are hurting from having conceded the first innings lead to Andhra Pradesh in their season opener and are keen to rectify the results.
Reflecting on the first round match, captain Aditya Tare said, “See, for me loss is a loss, regardless of who we lose too. Conceding the first innings is as good as a loss for me be it any opposition. I lose to Andhra or Karnataka or any other team in the domestic circuit is a loss for me. We have lost. We played bad cricket and we have lost, we have to accept it and better ourselves and get over it. It’s not about Andhra or J&K or any other team it’s about us.
“Yes, obviously we have to learn the lessons otherwise things won’t go right. If we want to improve we have to learn and better ourselves, play good cricket. We have got decent amount of experience from the last season which was an up and down season. But it’s important that we learn our lessons quickly and move on and get better at our game,” he added as they look to take on Punjab in the second round.
Discussing the lessons learnt, Tare said, “For me it’s all about the attitude. It’s about discipline, it’s about determination. It’s about how much you love playing for Mumbai, how much pride you have in playing and winning a match for Mumbai. And if the guys tick those boxes then I think we have a bright team ahead.”
Speaking about the opposition who come into the game on the back of an outright win, the Mumbai skipper said, “They are a good team. They have been a strong side in the domestic circle for many years now. They have got good batsmen in their ranks and their bowling attack is also good. It’s going to be a good contest. We have got a good attack.”
Mumbai’s attack has been strengthened by the return of Dhawal Kulkarni. The pacer was miserly in his spells against Andhra. Speaking about his key bowler, Tare said, “Dhawal has always been a steady bowler. He bowls brilliant four-day, five-day line and obviously he is very experienced with the red ball and yes he bowled really well that is why they (Andhra) couldn’t score much off him.”
While Kulkarni’s return adds experience to the team, Mumbai who had ups and downs last season come across as a more settled side this time. Agreeing, Tare added, “Absolutely! We look to maintain same nucleus that we had last season. The squad that did well last season and it’s important that we give guys that amount of security and confidence. They are all good cricketers I believe in them, they are all terrific cricketers but just matter of time.”
The team had not done well on their home ground in the 2014-15 season and will be looking to reverse their fortunes at the Wankhede this season. “That’s one point we need to look at, improve our home record. Things didn’t go well for us at Wankhede (last season). We won games away from home more and that’s one thing we have to correct this season,” Tare mentioned.
