Mid-Day

Rohit Sharma, Mumbai’s stand-in skipper for the second Group A Ranji Trophy tie against defending champions Rajasthan, was confident that the absence of senior India players Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan (both on India duty for England series) and Ajit Agarkar (calf injury) would not affect much.

Rohit said though Tendulkar and Zaheer would be missed, the Mumbai team is used to playing without them. “Yes they played brilliantly in the first match against Railways and would surely be missed but they were there only for one match.

For quite some time now Mumbai has to play without them because they are busy serving the country,” he said at the KL Saini stadium in Mansarovar here yesterday.

“But we have some promising youngsters like Shardul Thakur and Akhil Herwadkar. We are capable of putting up a tough fight,” he added. On the other hand Rajasthan, who conceded the first innings lead to Bengal in the opener, would be looking to exploit the weakened Mumbai. “They would be lacking the experience of Sachin and Zaheer, but we won’t take them lightly,” said skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar.