Towards the business end of the Ranji Trophy league phase, Dhawal Kulkarni had to miss out on a few games owing to small niggles. With qualification more or less secured, the pacer was rested during the last few league matches to have him ready for the more important games. On comeback, he performed exceedingly well in the limited-overs formats to regain his form. Now, he is ready to take that into Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Jharkhand in Mysore. Mumbai will be looking forward to the pacer leading the attack from the front once again. He will be complemented by Shardul Thakur, who has shouldered the responsibility of leading the attack in Kulkarni’s absence and has been integral to the team’s success since the 2014-15 season. What would raise Mumbai’s hopes is that Kulkarni has been in prime form. In the recent Deodhar Trophy, he was parsimonious for India B. He took six wickets in three matches, but the most telling statistic is that a third of his overs were maidens. He maintained an economy rate of 2.25 and an average of 10.16. This came after his successful run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he was the joint-second in the list of leading wicket takers with 15 scalps. There too he maintained a good economy rate of 6.72. Even in the Vijay Hazare Trophy preceding the domestic T20 tournament, Kulkarni took 14 wickets in six matches and has been in a prolific touch this season.

As Mumbai pursue their quest of reclaiming the Ranji Trophy, Kulkarni will play a key role for the team. The last two seasons have seen a young side come together, with the pacer being one of the seniors. The likes of Thakur, Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar have all played their part in the team’s run up to the quarter-final. Far away from the comfort of a home venue, Mumbai battle Jharkhand at the neutral Mysore. Saurashtra manage to lift themselves this season Coach Shitanshu Kotak is the guiding force behind Saurashtra’s charge this year. After finishing at the bottom of the Group B table in the 2014-15 league phase of Ranji Trophy the team were relegated to Group C and knew that a special effort was needed to bounce back. So far, this season has been good across formats for the Jaydev Shah-led team. While they missed out on qualifying for the knock-outs in Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy narrowly, they have now made it through to the semi-final thanks to a victory in the quarters against Vidarbha at Vizianagram. Kotak didn’t want his team to be overawed by the enormity of the game but approach it like a normal one. “We cannot afford to lose a session. It is a five-day game and one session can make a big difference. I don’t want players to think it is too important a game. We should play to potential and approach it like we do for any game,” he said before the game. Following the dip in form last year, Kotak set about rebuilding the team. Though there have been important individual performances, it has been all about the team. “We focused more on team performances than the individual performances. Everyone played for the team as we focussed on playing as a group,” Kotak says. He has also come up with an interesting tactic, whereby he has encouraged his bowlers to bat better. Instead of the tail being wiped off, they now endeavour to put up a fight and add more crucial runs to the total. “So far, that has given us an excellent result in all the formats,” Kotak says, while appreciating some of his players. Jaydev Unadkat was never known for his batting, but has managed to raise the bar. He came close to scoring a century in the Ranji Trophy. Also, Chirag Jani, the all-rounder, has been improving his batting. For the quarter-final, Saurashtra had Cheteshwar Pujara, whose presence only strengthened the batting. “You can see more or less everyone is contributing. We wanted to come up and do well. When we have (Ravindra) Jadeja and Pujara, it is great and they put in 100 percent. I don’t see any difference (in their effort) when they play for India or when they play for Saurashtra. When they aren’t available, the team has come strong. It has been an interesting year so far,” Kotak says. There was a time when Kotak shared the dressing room with many of his current squad members. He has been one of the stalwarts for Saurashtra cricket and post retirement, he is giving something back to the game. When his team walks out to play the semi-final, his experience would tell them to put in their best effort, but deep down, the passionate former Saurashtra cricketer is hoping for a great result. The charge has only started for Saurashtra and Kotak is laying the foundations to build a strong unit. Mumbai’s Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana becomes the cynosure of all eyes Mumbai has been the centre for domestic cricket over the last few weeks. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy reached its finale in the city with Uttar Pradesh clinching the competition. Later, the Cooch Behar Trophy final was also played in the city. Now, the Women’s Under-23 zonal one-day League is also taking place in the city with the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Bandra and the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana playing host. Set in Kandivali – a suburb of Mumbai, the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana grabbed headlines in 2013 when it was named after the legendary Indian cricketer in the presence of the touring West Indies team. Since then, it has hosted women’s and age-group matches. A few weeks ago, it was the scene of Uttar Pradesh’s miraculous victory against Mumbai in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy final, where the visitors chased down a 400-plus target. The development of this venue has given the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) another option to host matches. Besides the Wankhede Stadium and the Sharad Pawar Academy (at the Bandra Kurla Complex) which are regular features, with the third ground coming in, Mumbai can host multi-team domestic tournaments with more ease.