Ranji loss has robbed young guns Rohit and Rahane of crucial opportunities, says coach Amre
Ranji loss has robbed young guns Rohit and Rahane of crucial opportunities, says coach Amre
Dilip Vengsarkar once admitted to MiD DAY that he struggled to sleep for several months after Mumbai lost the 1991 Ranji Trophy final to Haryana. Mumbai coach Praveen Amre may probably face a similar situation after his side was booted out of the Ranji Trophy by minnows Rajasthan in Jaipur on Monday.
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Amre has been a successful Mumbai coach and the 39-time Ranji Trophy winners paid the price for one bad innings against Hrishikesh Kanitkar's Rajasthan. Mumbai fared well in the second innings of the tie, but it was not enough as Rajasthan had claimed the first innings honours in the quarter-finals.
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How did it feel to bow out so early in the knockout phase?
It was disappointing to lose in the quarter-final. The whole year's hard work was gone in just a match. Rajasthan had the home advantage. On the second day, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Vineet Saxena built a huge partnership and did the job for Rajasthan.
Mumbai may not have won the Ranji Trophy this season, but I am more disappointed for players like Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and a few others, who lost out on the crucial semi-final and final games which would have been important for them.
Where exactly did Mumbai lose out?
We were expecting to score around 350 runs in the first innings. But we got out early and that hurt us deeply. We also missed injured pacer Dhawal Kulkarni.
Do you think Mumbai lost because they were never tested during the whole season?
Not really. We had some tough matches against Delhi and Assam. We always had someone to rescue us in tough situations, but that never happened against Rajasthan.
Was Mumbai complacent?
Not really. Whatever we had achieved in the league stage was in the past. This was a new beginning. We tried our best to win the match. We latched on to every chance that came our way but that pair (Kanitkar and Saxena) batted extremely well. They took the game away from us and never allowed us to come back.
Has this loss dented the image of a team which has won the Ranji Trophy 39 times?
Our standards are so high that even if we lose in the final, it is regarded as a bad year. So, losing in the quarter-final has definitely affected us.
It is a dream for any team to beat the champions. It was a very expensive lesson we learnt in the knockout stage. I won't just blame the players for this debacle. We had prepared well for the knockout stage as well, but none of our plans worked. We missed some quality openers and pacers in the team. Those were the areas that were dented.
You mentioned about a quality pacer being missed. Don't you think Kshemal Waingankar, who has been impressive in local tournaments, should have been given a chance?
That is for the selectors to decide.
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