Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Rahane believes Mumbai ‘still has 1 per cent chance’ to qualify despite shock defeat against J&K
Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Rahane believes Mumbai ‘still has 1 per cent chance’ to qualify despite shock defeat against J&K
A five-wicket defeat against Jammu and Kashmir has dented Mumbai’s chances of reaching the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy, but captain Ajinkya Rahane believes that there is ‘still one per cent chance’ for his team to qualify.
With 22 points, Mumbai now needs to win its next game against Meghalaya with a bonus point and then wait for the outcome of the fixture between Jammu and Kashmir and Baroda.
“There’s still one per cent chance for us to qualify. So you never know. Our main thing is to learn from this game,” Rahane said on Saturday.
Despite fielding a star-studded team, which included India captain Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mumbai struggled against J&K’s fast bowlers before Shardul Thakur stepped up with a fifty in the first innings, followed by a hundred in the second essay.
Rahane, however, lauded the J&K bowlers for their efforts. “This season, they have been doing really well, especially their fast bowling unit. They have been bowling in right areas and I thought they read conditions really well at this wicket,” Rahane said.
Anticipating some turn, Mumbai had fielded three spinners, but eventually that plan did not work. “Frankly, we didn’t expect that ball will seam that much. We thought it will be a good wicket to bat and it will spin on day two but obviously they bowled really well…” the captain said.
This season, the players had to quickly change formats as the white-ball tournaments were played in between the Ranji Trophy. Asked if that had an impact on his players, Rahane said: “It’s difficult to say because it is the first time all these boys are playing between formats. Sometimes it’s a challenge, you get used to the conditions very quickly. This is not an excuse, but I feel this is a learning for all of us as a team, especially how can we do better…
“Because I’m sure going forward this will be the format – starting with red ball, then playing white ball and then coming back to red ball again. So, this is a learning for us, win or lose it’s all about what we can learn as a team and how we can get..”
He also defended the decision of leaving out opener Ayush Mhatre since both Rohit and Jaiswal were available for the game, following BCCI’s diktat.
