Amol Muzumdar feels utterly blessed after becoming Ranji Trophy's highest run-getter
Amol Muzumdar feels utterly blessed after becoming Ranji Trophy's highest run-getter
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Muzumdar in his Guwahati hotel room yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble |
Less than 24 hours after one Mumbaikar played his heart out and achieved a world record of 17,000 plus runs only to see his team lose a crucial cricket match, another has one didu00a0 the same in another part of India.
Amol Muzumdar did a Sachin Tendulkar yesterday, albeit on the domestic circuit when he became the highest run-getter in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket in a Plate Division match against Rajasthan, only to see his team, Assam, go down by 95 runs to the visitors. Tendulkar became the highest ODI run-getter on Thursday as India lost to Australia by three runs.
Muzumdar however was so overwhelmed by his feat that he failed to catch the coincidence. "It's a huge relief because I've not played a Ranji game since January and everyone, even my wife, was pretty aware of the record. It's huge. Something I had never dreamt off when I started playing Ranji (for Mumbai in 1993-94). As for the comparison with Sachin, it never occurred to me, but yes I think it is true to an extent," he told MiD DAY at his hotel room in Guwahati yesterday.
Muzumdar, who before the match needed 31 runs to surpass Ranji's previous highest run-getter Amarjit Kaypee's tally of 7623 runs, scored 22 in the first innings and 25 yesterday to etch his name into domestic cricket's history books.
In fact, he's so proud of what he's done, that it does not even matter to him that it didn't happen while playing for Mumbai. "I've achieved the record of being Mumbai's highest scorer during my 16-year association with them so this one is for India. It's a national achievement," he justified.
There's no regret for shedding the lion-crested cap either. "It was my decision to leave Mumbai and there's no question of regretting it, nor have I ever thought about going back," he said.
Even the disappointment of not earning an India cap, despite the blood and sweat over so many years, has disappeared. "I used to feel disappointed because I could never understand how all these matches, innings and runs could be ignored by the national selectors. But I don't feel bad anymore because it was not meant to be and so be it," he reasoned.
"Given a chance, I'd like to live my life again in the same way I have done this far, without changing anything about myself or my game because not many can achieve what I have in domestic cricket. I believe I'm blessed. I feel I'm the chosen one," he signed off.
