Mumbai, Feb 21: Mumbai is all set to take on Baroda in the first West Zone match of the Inter State One Day League at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. Skipper Ajit Agarkar expects his side to improve their poor record in the limited-overs format and raise their game to the level of the competition.

Excerpts from the pre-match press conference:

On his thoughts on the Mumbai side

We have a fairly settled squad as such, six or seven guys have been playing for a couple of years at least. Surya [Suryakumar Yadav], although it’s his debut Ranji season, has played one-dayers for us. Other than him, most of the guys have been around. The third seamer, Kshemal [Waingankar], and Ballu [Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr.] are probably appearing in their first full season. We have enough experience.

On whether Mumbai would play three spinners

We’ll have a look at [the wicket] in the morning but generally with the Powerplays these days, you want to have three seamers in the team. Unless the wicket is going to turn square, the Wankhede normally affords enough bounce to seamers. The Powerplays just make it difficult for spinners some times.

On playing with two new balls

I’ve never played with two new balls; I am sure the openers will have to play differently. We’ll just have to see, the first game is going to be a [lesson]. Each ball is only going to be used for 25 overs, so the hardness will be a lot more than [usual].

On the reasons behind Mumbai’s poor record in one-dayers

We’ve just not played well. I haven’t played all the years, but I can’t think of a game that I’ve lost in the knockouts. We just have to play better because the teams have improved; we have to raise our standards as well. In Ranji Trophy we tend to play well, but in one-day cricket we need to play better.

On Ramesh Powar’s fitness

Ramesh [Powar] has pulled out unfit. He played a game on Sunday, but he is not fit enough to play four games. I think he had a calf strain during that last Ranji game. Aditya Tare is the replacement.