Out-of-favour Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer will be motivated to prove a point and serve a timely reminder of his skills as he returns to domestic action when record 41-time champions Mumbai take on Tamil Nadu in the semi final of the Ranji Trophy in Mumbai on Saturday. Iyer has been dropped from the Indian Test side and removed from BCCI's list of contracted players after making himself unavailable for the Ranji Trophy quarter-final due to groin and back problems. Iyer has made a full recovery and will join Mumbai for the most important match.
Iyer would play a key role in Mumbai's plan, especially against Tamil Nadu's quality spin bowling, which has been one of their main weapons this season.
Captain R Sai Kishore (47 wickets) and fellow left-arm spinner S Ajith Ram (41) top the list of highest wicket-takers, against whom Iyer and Co. will have a great opportunity to make a powerful statement.
The semi-final promises to be an enthralling battle between Tamil Nadu's persistent and disciplined bowlers and their batters who have amassed big runs this season against the all-round power of Mumbai.
Mumbai have reached the semi-finals thanks to the timely performances of several players, with the exception of skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who has only one fifty from six matches.
None of the Mumbai bowlers have even made it into the top 10 of the wicket-taker list – Mohit Avashi (32) is at 13th – yet they find themselves in the bottom four, with their bowlers sharing the workload quite well.
Both Mumbai and Tamil Nadu record impressive wins in the quarter-finals.
Young Musheer Khan's unbeaten 203 gave Mumbai a slim lead, which grew to an insurmountable 605 thanks to a historic show from tailenders Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande against Baroda. While Tamil Nadu stopped defending champions Saurashtra.
A notable feature of Tamil Nadu's impressive run this year is the fact that they have knocked out each of their opponents twice in all Ranji matches this season, regardless of the outcome.
Both Mumbai and Tamil Nadu have lost just one match each. While Tamil Nadu only emerged to find their best form after a defeat to Gujarat in their season opener, Mumbai's narrow loss to Uttar Pradesh proved to be just a minor mistake.
It remains to be seen if N Jagadeesan (821 runs) rediscovers his form that allowed him to register consecutive scores of 245 not out and 321 earlier in the tournament. The righthander did not reach above fifty in his last seven innings.
However, Baba Indrajith's enviable consistency (686 runs) has done wonders for Tamil Nadu, with the 29-year-old on a run streak with scores of 80, 187, 98 and 48 in the last three matches.
Tamil Nadu has also been strengthened by the inclusion of all-rounder Washington Sundar, who has been released from the Indian Test side.
On what is expected to be a batting-friendly surface, Mumbai's deep batting line-up with Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani at the top and all-rounder Shardul Thakur and even Shams Mulani in the lower order, the hosts will be keen to score a big one.
For Tamil Nadu, it would be imperative to continue working with their strengths – if Jagadeesan, Indrajith and Pradosh Ranjan Paul form the fulcrum of their batting, Seamer Sandeep Warrier has provided adequate support to the spin duo of Sai Kishore and Ajith.
Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi , Royston Dias, Dhawal Kulkarni.
Tamilnadu: R Sai Kishore (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (vc), Baba Indrajith, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Suresh Lokeshwar (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Vimal Khumar, Balasubramaniam Sachin, Washington Sundar, Sandeep Warrier, Trilok Nag, T Natarajan, Mohammed Mohammed, S Ajith Ram.
The gritty Madhya Pradesh wants to outwit the formidable Vidarbha
A determined Madhya Pradesh is faced with the daunting task of taming Vidarbha at their home ground, which the hosts have turned into an impregnable citadel this season, when the familiar foes clash in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy.
Two-time champions Vidarbha have played four matches at the VCA Stadium this season, of which they have won three, with the only defeat coming against Saurashtra.
Those wins also came by convincing margins: seven wickets against Services, 115 runs against Haryana and 127 runs against Karnataka in the quarter-finals.
Vidarbha's biggest strength throughout this season has been the collective contribution of their batsmen.
They have found several heroes in veteran Karun Nair (515 runs), Delhi import Dhruv Shorey (496), top batsman Atharva Taide (488) and skipper Akshay Wadkar (452). They rescued them all from the forest on different occasions.
The Nagpur pitch has often acted as an ally to the batters, but Vidarbha has also been fortunate to have the services of two lion-hearted bowlers – pacer Aditya Thakare and left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate.
They have collected 68 wickets so far this season, rarely allowing their opponents to dictate the course of the match.
Sarwate's four-wicket burst against Karnataka is a pointer.
Karnataka had reached 103 for 1 while chasing nearly 371 on day 4, but Sarwate bowled an excellent spell to bundle the visitors out for 243 on the fifth day.
But then giving Vidarbha the upper hand on the back of that bull run at home might also be a bit unfair.
Madhya Pradesh, the 2022 champions, have walked through rings of fire to enter the final four stages.
They managed just three outright wins in eight league matches, while in other matches they fought fiercely to gain the first innings lead.
Even in their quarter-final against Andhra, MP were on the brink of elimination before pulling away to complete a four-point win.
The biggest positive for them this season is Venkatesh Iyer's renewed hunger for runs. Iyer has lost his way in the Indian system and has amassed 528 runs at an average of 52 with one hundred and four fifties.
The southpaw was well supported by Himanshu Mantri (513) and Yash Dubey (510). They have taken responsibility for the MP's batting in the absence of Rajat Patidar, who is on national duty.
MP's bowling will revolve around the versatile Kumar Kartikeya, who can bowl both the orthodox left-arm spin and the left-arm wrist-spin version.
The Mumbai Indians all-rounder has contributed 38 wickets to his team's bowling list this year.
Veteran off-spinner Saransh Jain (27 wickets) and left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya (26 wickets) have ably supported Kartikeya.
But beyond that, MP's biggest strength is the presence of the astute tactician Chandrakant Pandit, their head coach.
The strict task master knows how to get the best out of his departments under pressure.
In fact, Vidarbha players will vouch for that as it was Pandit who orchestrated their title run in two consecutive seasons: 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Vidarbha:Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod, Karun Nair, Akshay Wadkar (wk/captain), Mohit Kale, Aditya Sarwate, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare, Sanjay Raghunath, Rajneesh Gurbani, Lalit M Yadav, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Shubham Dubey.
Madhya Pradesh: Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham S Sharma (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Sumit Kushwah, Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Avesh Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amarjeet Singh, Aditya Shrivastava, Mihir Hirwani, Rishabh Chouhan, Aryan Pandey.
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