Matches (18)
IPL (3)
Women's Tri-Series (SL) (1)
WCL 2 (1)
County DIV1 (3)
County DIV2 (4)
Women's One-Day Cup (4)
HKG T20 (1)
PSL (1)
RESULT
Group A, Wankhede, January 05 - 08, 2015, Ranji Trophy
404 & 311/4

Match drawn

Player Of The Match
5/74
yogesh-rawat
Preview

Buoyant Mumbai face struggling MP

After a shaky start to the tournament, Mumbai are finding their feet; Madhya Pradesh will be looking to trip them up at home to get their own season going

Ishwar Pandey on his first senior tour, Auckland, January 13, 2014

Madhya Pradesh will be without their pace spearhead, Ishwar Pandey  •  AFP

The last time Mumbai players were at the Wankhede Stadium, they were in a miserable frame of mind. They had lost their Ranji Trophy season-opener to Jammu & Kashmir, who were promoted from the lowest rung of the tournament. It took a pep talk from Sachin Tendulkar to cheer them up before they left the Wankhede dressing room on what was expected to be an arduous journey of three successive away matches.
There was no Tendulkar at the Wankhede on Sunday, but the mood in the camp was the complete opposite of what it had been four weeks ago. In wake of a convincing outright victory against Uttar Pradesh and first-innings' points against Bengal, Mumbai appeared to be a cheerful lot ahead of their Group A match against Devendra Bundela's Madhya Pradesh.
Mumbai not only struggled on the field in their first two matches this season, but they also didn't get their team balance right. They have used 20 players in their first four games, with only five players featuring in all matches. Only in the last game, in Kolkata, with Aditya Tare and rookie Shreyas Iyer having been promoted to top of the order, did the batting line-up appear solid.
Just as Mumbai were starting to get a settled combination in place, though, they have been struck with a second major injury blow, with Abhishek Nayar having been ruled out of the match having fractured his toe in the game against Bengal. With veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer still recovering from a fractured finger, Nayar was the most experienced campaigner in Mumbai's developing side.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav could only hope that Nayar's absence will not work against his team. "I have already missed one [Jaffer] and now I will miss Abhishek Nayar," Suryakumar said. "He is the best character on and off the field. Takes the morale high on the field and in the dressing room. But it is part of the game. Someone has to fill in his shoes, so we will see who takes up his job."
Mumbai had another injury scare with Siddhesh Lad having injured a finger. However, he - who surprisingly didn't feature in the team for the first three games of the season and scored 64 in Kolkata - was passed fit for the match.
Madhya Pradesh have also been trying to cope with injury problems. Their pace spearhead, Ishwar Pandey, has been virtually ruled out of the season after having hurt his knee in their match against Uttar Pradesh. With an otherwise inexperienced bowling attack, the onus will be on Naman Ojha to lead the batting charge and help MP pose a challenge.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Ojha spent four weeks in Australia at the start of India's ongoing tour, being Wriddhiman Saha's back-up. Back at the Ranji Trophy, he made his presence felt when he combined with his captain Bundela to help MP salvage a draw against Tamil Nadu.
MP have also struggled with their team combination and are thus down at No 8 in the Group A standings, with just five points from four games. If they have to improve on their performance, they will be hoping for Ojha and Bundela to come good against an in-form Shardul Thakur, the Mumbai pace spearhead, who currently tops the wicket-takers' list with 23 wickets at 16.65.

Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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Ranji Trophy

Group A
TeamMWLDPTQuotient
KNTKA8404331.633
TN8413291.244
MUM8224200.937
MP8116191.143
BRODA8125181.078
RLYS8026160.922
UP8233150.760
BENG8017130.820
J + K8134120.601
Group B
TeamMWLDPTQuotient
DELHI8512371.471
MAHA8323261.290
VIDAR8215241.468
GUJ8224240.965
ODSA8332200.790
PNJB8233190.947
RAJ8233180.821
HRYNA8242170.875
SAU8134100.668
Group C
TeamMWLDPTQuotient
ASSAM8512381.325
AP8413291.454
HP8206281.677
JHK8215211.171
HYD8116201.123
KER8116200.908
TPURA803590.635
SVCS804480.773
GOA803550.575