New look Mumbai side still gets top billing

Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai finished at the summit of the West Zone league for the second successive season, albeit in a less convincing fashion, holding off Maharashtra by just one point, with third placed Baroda another point behind. It spelt happy tidings for Maharashtra, which rebounded after the disappointment of failing to qualify last season.

Undoubtedly the most stunning individual feat of the season was performed by Gujarat's Mukund Parmar in the opening round against Maharashtra. By making 115 and 107 not out, he saved the match for Gujarat after they had been forced to follow on. In the process, the 32-year-old right hander became the first Indian to score a century in each innings four times in first-class cricket, overtaking Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar. Parmar now joins the company of such illustrious names as Don Bradman, Herbert Sutcliffe, Greg Chappell et.al. He hit another ton against Saurashtra and finished top of the zonal aggregate with 557 runs at 92.83.

Mumbai began the defence of their title with a nine wicket trouncing of Gujarat thanks to a blazing unbeaten 203 by Vinod Kambli who headed the zonal averages at 115 in three matches. The inspirational presence of Sachin Tendulkar was denied them until the game against Baroda, Mumbai's bogey team for the last couple of seasons. Tendulkar caned a 77 ball hundred to seal the issue in Mumbai's favour and Baroda only managed to save the game on the final evening thanks to a determined stonewalling effort by skipper Nayan Mongia.

This was a new look Mumbai side, with Abey Kuruvilla (retired), Jatin Paranjape (studying for a management degree) and Amit Pagnis (shifted to Railways) missing for different reasons. Some of the replacements performed quite adequately, especially 19-year-old Vinayak Mane who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tendulkar in his stance and mannerisms at the crease. Mane who made his first class debut in the Irani Trophy, averaged 51 in three games with a highest of 84 against Saurashtra.

All rounder Robin Morris who shifted allegiance from Orissa was a dismal failure with the bat but his medium pacers grabbed eight wickets at just under 20 apiece, putting him ahead of specialist seamers like Paras Mhambrey and Santosh Saxena. It was spin which formed the primary striking force for Mumbai and the returning Sairaj Bahutule was the centrepiece. Injury blighted his season last year when he got only two games but now he collected 18 scalps, the most by any spinner in the zone. Off spinner Ramesh Powar was an able foil, taking 15 wickets of his own but left armer Rajesh Pawar, so successful last season with 44 wickets, suffered an abrupt loss of form.

Mahrashtra finished second despite not winning a single match outright. They acquired the first innings lead in all four games thanks to their batsmen who topped 400 on each occasion. Only in the last encounter did Mumbai run them close on first innings, before falling short by 12 runs. Abhijit Kale who slammed 222 against Baroda accumulated 504 runs at just over 100 apiece while skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar was also in pleasant form. He made three fifties and a big hundred in his first four visits to the crease before a first ball duck against Mumbai spoiled his average. But despite running up all those tall scores, Maharashtra were never able to bowl out their oponents twice. Twenty six year old medium pacer Iqbal Siddiqui, who hauled in 19 wickets, was their only bowler of any standing.

It was Baroda's Rakesh Patel who was the bowling revelation of the season, snapping up 21 wickets to lead the zonal tally. The tall medium pacer was surprisingly inducted into the National Cricket Academy last May despite having done little of note in the preceding months. The spell at the Academy was a watershed in his career and Patel has repaid the faith of those who selected him with a standout performance culminating in an eight wicket haul against Mumbai, including the prize scalp of Tendulkar for just five in the second innings. Unluckily his steady rise was interrupted by an inopportune injury that kept him out of the Duleep Trophy.

Patel and Zaheer Khan teamed up to form an impressive opening pair in that last game against Mumbai but Baroda's opening pair of batsmen were equally promising. Both Connor Williams and Satyajit Parab averaged over 63, the apex of their association being a 237 run stand against Maharashtra. Having qualified for the Super League last year, Saurashtra suffered the embarrassment of finishing bottom of the group. Their only saving grace was the performance of Prashant Joshi, a 19-year-old opening batsman from Porbandar who struck two hundreds in four matches.