RANJI TROPHY | Mumbai gets a Shreyas boost as it takes on Odisha

Shreyas Iyer set to boost Mumbai's Ranji Trophy campaign against Odisha, as Sarfaraz Khan trains on sidelines.

Moments after Mumbai finished its practice session on Tuesday, Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan chatted with each other at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground. While the latter will train on the sidelines of the Ranji Trophy game, Mumbai will be hoping for Shreyas to boost the side and kick off its topsy-turvy Ranji Trophy campaign so far, against Odisha from Wednesday.

Shreyas — after ending his three-year First Class hundred drought while helping Mumbai set up an outright win against Maharashtra last month — took a break from the last round, against Tripura in Agartala.

With the defending champion being forced to be content with an innings lead, Mumbai will rely on Shreyas to ensure there are no further hiccups. After all, Mumbai finds itself placed fourth in a group of eight. And the relatively inexperienced batting line-up will be banking on captain Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas to take the game away from Odisha.

With Suryansh Shedge, the youngster, having plundered a run-a-ball 99 in Agartala, Siddhesh Lad is set to make way for Shreyas.

Odisha, with renewed hopes under new head coach Surendra Bhave at the start of the season, is yet to take off in this campaign. A washout against Tripura was followed with a slender innings lead against Jammu & Kashmir. But it then went down by an innings against an on-song Baroda in the pre-Diwali round.

Govinda Poddar, the captain who is back in charge, was confident of not being overawed by the legacy of the opposition. “We beat Mumbai in Bangalore during the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year. Definitely in Ranji Trophy, in red-ball cricket, Mumbai is a very good side. But given a chance, the team which plays on that day will definitely win the match,” Poddar said.

“If we perform here, then definitely our players are going to get more limelight throughout India. It’s a very good opportunity for us to experiment and implement what we have planned and prepared since last year.”