The Mumbai-Baroda encounter in the domestic cricket has been a fascinating encounter for the cricketing fans no matter what time of the season is.
The spirited Baroda side has always pushed the most successful team in Ranji Trophy Mumbai and has brought the best cricket out of them. However, the encounter doesn’t hold the same edge when both the teams clash against each other in Wankhade on Thursday. Baroda has been poor so far in this season, as they lack some star players from their squad.
Irfan Pathan, who was named as the captain for this season for excluded from the squad for unknown reason ahead of this game. Deepak Hooda, who was announced as the new captain was the only known face in the squad which landed in Mumbai. The history between the two teams will only add up in what will be the 500th Ranji Trophy match for the Mumbai team, incidentally. On the eve of this special match, the Mumbai players, current and former spent a lovely time talking about the memories of what was an entertaining and successful journey.
It was the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar; one of the most famous Mumbai players carried all the limelight as he started recalling the memories of his time from the star-studded dressing room. To start off, he talked how seniors like Suru Nayak and Kiran Mokashi had prepared him for his debut match at the age of 14.
Sachin Tendulkar shared nostalgic memory on Instagram:
“They (Suru and Kiran) used to come and bowl to me after the nets got over. They used to take me and say bas 10 minutes we will do nets. An imaginary field used to be set and I had to play. Sometimes I said five minutes are over or we came here by 4.30 and it’s already 5 but they used to say no-no you carry on. That confidence helped me a lot to prepare for my first Ranji Trophy game,” Tendulkar said in an event organized by the Mumbai Cricket Association.
However, the living legend picked the semifinal game against Tamil Nadu in 1999-2000 was the best game he has played in Ranji Trophy. In reply to Tamil Nadu’s 485, Tendulkar scored a brilliant double-hundred to hand his team an important lead in the first innings.
While recalling Vinod Kambli’s impeccable talent, Dilip Vengsarkar said:
“We were batting in a Ranji Trophy game on a matting wicket when Kambli joined me in the middle. He came and hit the second ball for a six. I had told him he aaram se khelna but he still went after the bowlers. I said arre mein 100 pe batting kar raha hoon tu nahi.”
Another former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar remembered a funny incident when they couldn’t see the final against Haryana as they had to sit back in the dressing room.
“Because of the way Tendulkar was batting, we were forced to sit at one place and not to move the entire day. My remembrance of that famous Haryana final is only through sounds. When you played so much of cricket, you know from the crowd reactions what has happened,” he concluded.