Limited Mumbai crash again!

Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane

There seems to be no limit to Mumbai's woes in limited-overs cricket this season. On Monday, close on the heels of their recent losses to Tripura and Odisha in the league segment of the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy, came a defeat to Dinesh Karthik's Tamil Nadu. The Ajinkya Rahane-led Mumbai team's quarter-final loss in Rajkot is expected to hurt for a while. Last month, the erstwhile kings of domestic cricket failed to go beyond the quarter-final stage in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. All this leads to a loud and clear ‘what's happening' chorus among the city's cricketing fraternity. Sadly, this is fast becoming a familiar refrain in an often-recited sad song.

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228-run target

Rahane's men lost by seven wickets with 40 balls to spare after TN chased the 228-run target with ease. Mumbai head coach Omkar Salvi told mid-day: "We all are definitely hurt and disappointed by our early exit in this tournament. However, we vow to look deep inside and at the areas to work upon for better solutions. Five-six players are on national duty with India and India ‘A' sides. This gave an opportunity to younger players to display their potential."

TN head coach Sulakshan Kulkarni (right) Mumbai head coach Omkar Salvi

Batting first at the Sanosara Cricket Ground B, Mumbai lost their top four batsmen with the scoreboard reading 92 by the 23rd over. However, No.5 Prasad Pawar (59, 8x4) and No.6 Shivam Dube (45, 1x4, 4x6) recovered well, sharing an 82-run stand off 76 balls. However, after Pawar and Dube's departure, Mumbai were bowled out for 227 in 48.3 overs.

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Only one pacer

Interestingly, TN had only one pacer - T Natarajan - in their playing XI and all 10 wickets went to spinners - leggie Varun Chakravarthy (3-37), left-arm spinners Sai Kishore (3-51), Manimaran Siddharth (2-35) and offie Baba Aparajith (2-31). Then, riding on one-drop Baba Indrajith's unbeaten 103 (11x4) and Vijay Shankar's 51 not out (4x4, 1x6), TN got home.

TN head coach - former Mumbai wicketkeeper-batsman Sulakshan Kulkarni - appeared to be over the moon with the victory against a team he once coached. "This is a special win for me as my one students, Omkar was guiding Mumbai as the head coach and another student, Ajinkya was leading Mumbai. Ajinkya and Dhawal Kulkarni, who played today [Monday] were part of our 2012-13 Ranji Trophy-winning Mumbai team when I was head coach. I did not expect such a one-sided win against Mumbai. I thought we may have to chase a 300-plus score. But our bowling was economical, our performance, clinical. Also, our fielders did wonders. Credit goes to captain Karthik, who led the team aggressively by setting attacking fields. This played a vital role."

Meanwhile, Salvi admitted that his players need to be more consistent. "We had our share of highs and lows during the tournament, but somehow we couldn't maintain our momentum and form for a longer span, which is essential in such tournaments. We would draw inferences from these events and results and take some cues from them to build from here with reinforced energies. "As a group, we all are motivated and hungry to better our performances by doing the hard yards together," Salvi remarked.