A glimpse at the scoreboard at the end of the penultimate day's play of the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Mumbai and Saurashtra could well hint at Mumbai being well on course to a place in the summit clash.
A glimpse at the scoreboard at the end of the penultimate day's play of the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Mumbai and Saurashtra could well hint at Mumbai being well on course to a place in the summit clash.
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But had Saurashtra sheet anchor Sitanshu Kotak not been dismissed at the fag end of the day, the Mumbai team would have surely had a sleepless night yesterday, thanks to a somewhat weird rule.
The 'playing conditions' for the Ranji Trophy mention that in case of an unfinished first innings in a knock-out match, the team with better Net Run Rate (NRR) throughout the tournament including the league phase.
Twist
The rule effectively means that if Saurashtra bat out today's 90 overs, with NRR of 0.33 in comparison to Mumbai's 0.03, they will proceed to Hyderabad for the final instead of heading back to Rajkot.
And somehow, the Mumbai team management were not even aware of the rule. Even after the team arrived at the ground for yesterday's play, they had decided to bat on for at least an hour, as skipper Wasim Jaffer had said the day before. The team had a perception that in case of an unfinished first innings, it's not the NRR but that in this particular match would decide the fate of the match.
Even some of the Board officials who are responsible for the conduct of domestic cricket were "confused" about the rule, when MiD DAY contacted them.
However, once match referee B Raghunath made both the coaches aware about the rule just before the start of the day's play, Mumbai hastily decided to declare. Till then, only the two overnight batsmen Abhishek Nayar and Ramesh Powar were in the whites while the rest of the players in their practice attires.
Mumbai coach Praveen Amre, admitting about the confusion over the playing conditions, was unhappy with the existing rule.
"I don't feel this is the correct way to go. In case of an unfinished first innings, I feel the team with better quotient should proceed to the next round. Otherwise, there is no point in registering six outright victories in the league stage. Wickets taken by a team should also considered and not just runs scored."
Homework
Saurashtra, on the other hand, had done their homework. "We were well aware of the rule and went in with a plan to bat out two days," Kotak said. "Unfortunately, my dismissal has been a setback. But the first session is going to be very crucial tomorrow. If we can see it off without much damage, we might as well pull it off."
Mumbai's lack of preparation reflected in the numerous fielding lapses and at least five missed opportunities to dismiss the Saurashtra middle order.
To add to their misery, Kotak, the relentless blocker, was into his elements. During his 352-minute stay at the wicket, Kotak looked determined to bat Mumbai out of the game, as he did in the last year's final league game.u00a0
However, he couldn't see off the new ball as Dhawal Kulkarni forced him to glide one straight into Rohit Sharma's waiting hands at leg gully.
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