Bhubaneswar: It will be a battle of David versus Goliath when Orissa begin their Ranji Trophy encounter against 41-time champions Mumbai at the KIIT Stadium here Wednesday. History, records and recent performances of the two sides make it truly an unequal affair.
When two unequal sides meet, there are usually two things that happen, the first being the usual capitulation of the weaker of the two. However, there have been many an occasion, when the minnows play well above their potential to stun the giants. Matches of this type go a strong way in building the character of a side and Orissa skipper Govind Poddar will certainly pray that his mates rise to the occasion. A performance against Mumbai, at least in cricket, makes India sit up and take notice of the player. Former India player, now-turned commentator Arun Lal had once said, “It is games like this that makes a star,” and if the Orissa players do grab this opportunity, they will certainly be stars of the future.
On paper, player for player, Mumbai have too many guns. They were reinforced by the arrival of Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur here Tuesday and hence will not miss last match’s centurion Shreyas Iyer (called up for national duty), too much. Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni make a formidable pace combo. In batting to back up Rahane, there will be talented batsmen like Prithvi Shaw, Akhil Herawadkar (both got centuries against Tamil Nadu in the last game), Siddesh Lad, skipper Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Nayar – all capable of making the Orissa bowlers go on a leather hunt. A line-up against whom, bowlers will not fancy their chances too much.
What however, will make Mumbai far more formidable is that they conceded a first innings lead to Tamil Nadu and hence will be desperate for an outright win. Mumbai cricket is best known for its ‘khadoos gharana’ and it is for that reason they have won the Ranji Trophy 41 times.
Against such history, Orissa certainly start huge underdogs. However, the form of Govind and Biplab Samantray has been encouraging. But then others will also have to come to the party if the hosts are to make a match out of it on a pitch which will have some life early on.
Coming into the match, Orissa have only two points while Mumbai have four. Orissa as per information received will blood young batsman Shantanu Mishra who will replace an injured Abinash Saha.
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