In-form Saurashtra pacer relishes the prospect of bowling to Tendulkar in Ranji semis
ON THE HUNT: Saurashtra pacer Sandeep Jobanputra
In-form Saurashtra pacer relishes the prospect of bowling to Tendulkar in Ranji semis
THE only team that's had Mumbai in a spot of bother is their West Zone rivals Saurashtra.
While the giants were crushing teams on their way to an unbeaten run so far, they found themselves wanting against Saurashtra in Rajkot last November. Had it not been for Ramesh Powar's unbeaten 23 when he batted for close to four hours, Mumbai would have lost by an innings.
This was the second successive time Mumbai conceded the first innings lead and with it the three points to the team from North Gujarat, who qualified for their third semi-final when they surprised Karnataka by chasing 325 in Mumbai last December.u00a0
Not the favourites
However, as Saurashtra landed in Chennai yesterday for their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Mumbai that begins on Sunday, they were not carrying the tag of favourites.
Such is the impact India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, and more importantly, Sachin Tendulkar have. The duo's availability has made Mumbai favourites not just for the semi-final but also to reclaim the Ranji Trophy.
"We are going to get a feeling of competing against an international team," Sandeep 'Jolly' Jobanputra, the left-arm seamer, told MiD DAY from Chennai yesterday.
It was Jobanputra's fifer that undid Mumbai at Rajkot in November.
"When you are competing against the best bowler in India, and probably in the world at the moment, and the greatest batsman ever, what else do you expect?"
Does that mean the battleu00a0 is lost even before it has begun?
"Not at all," pat came the reply. "We are going to try and treat it as just another match and history is definitely with us. If we can restrict the impact of these two, we can definitely pull it off."
Jobanputra, along with Sitanshu Kotak, has been instrumental in Saurashtra becoming a major force in the Super League after their promotion just four seasons ago.
Matter of swing
The 27-year-old, as he displayed in Karnataka's second innings last week, is excellent at swinging the old ball. And the southpaw, who was extremely satisfied to have forced Rahul Dravid into a false stroke last week, is excited to be up against one of his heroes.
"It's going to be a great challenge to be bowling to Tendulkar." Jobanputra, after having a relatively dull season seems to have peaked at the right time.
So has he thought of plans to dismiss Tendulkar? "Not really, we still haven't discussed it in the team meeting. But whenever we do it, I don't think we are going to have any concrete plan. You can't plan much while bowling to Tendulkar, can you? All I am thinking is to give my 150 per cent and leave the rest to God.
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