Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Khadoos Army aim for glory under Aditya Tare

Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Khadoos Army aim for glory under Aditya Tare

Mumbai has been hands down the most successful team in the domestic circuit, having won the Ranji Trophy a record 40 times. As they look to continue their rich legacy, skipper Aditya Tare will want his team to continue playing their brand of cricket, brand that has been named as ‘The Khadoos Army.’  The name came from the never-say-die attitude exhibited from the Mumbai players. Sachin Tendulkar was the prime example of it and Mumbai has always been proud of the way they play their cricket. Mumbai last won in 2012-13 and will be eager to get back the silverware. They will be missing the services of their regulars in Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, who will be on national duty; but Tare will know he has enough players with experience to make an impact in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season. Read all Ranji Trophy 2015-16 team previews here

Mumbai will also be missing two of their players from the previous seasons. Wasim Jaffer, who was an integral part of the team for 19 years, decided to move on from Mumbai to go to Vidarbha. Having played for Mumbai for most of his career, Jaffer stressed that whatever he did, he will always be referred to as a Mumbai player.  Mumbai will also miss Sarfaraz Khan who swapped from Mumbai to play for Uttar Pradesh; Sarfaraz will hope the move works for him as he will look to impress the selectors for a place in the national side at a young age. Read: Aditya Tare: Watching Wasim Jaffer play was like an education to the Mumbai team; his move from Mumbai is a great loss

The squad saw the return of Vishal Dabholkar to the team after being dropped last year due to poor performance. He returned to the squad on the back of an impressive performance of 6 for 46 against MCA Colts to beat TNCA Districts XI by six wickets in the off-season Buchi Babu All India Invitation Cricket Tournament Final in Chennai in August. Dabholkar might give company to the other spinner in the squad in Harmeet Singh. With Iqbal Abdulla being dropped from the side after a poor run of form, it presents Harmeet Singh an ideal opportunity to stake a claim for a permanent spot in the team. Read: Buchi Babu Memorial Trophy: Mumbai win final against TNCA Districts

Schedule:

Squad: Aditya Tare (C), Akhil Herwadkar, Shrideep Mangela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Nayar, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Patil (Jr), Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr.), Vishal Dabholkar, Abhishek Raut, Badre Alam, Harmeet Singh.  Read: Aditya Tare named captain as Mumbai announce squad for Ranji Trophy 2015-16

Key players:

Shreyas Iyer: After successful debut Ranji Trophy season for Mumbai, the 20-year-old Mumbai batsman impressed one and all with his daring stroke-play and audacious batting opening the batting for Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He though stressed on the fact that he wanted to feature in all three formats of the game for the national team which was an encouraging sign. In an interview to CricketCountry earlier in September 2015, Iyer said, “Test cricket is the best format of the game. I want to play all three formats. So, I really don’t think I have to stick to one format. I’ve decided that I will keep going for all three formats.” Mumbai will hope their star youngster keeps up the form and scores heavily for them. Read: Shreyas Iyer: Rahul Dravid advised me to play according to my instincts

Dhawal Kulkarni: The Mumbai bowler was rewarded with his One-Day International (ODI) debut against England in 2014 following a couple of good seasons for Mumbai. Last year he picked up just two wickets at an average of 55 and will wish to do more than that. He is not in the squad for the South Africa series and will want to make an impact and return to the national squad.

Balwinder Sandhu: Balwinder Sandhu was the highest wicket taker for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2014-15 season, taking as many as 16 wickets at a superb bowling average of 16.43. He will hope to emulate the same in the current season as well and hope the likes of Shardul Thakur  and Kulkarni back him up with impressive performances.

(Nikhil Popat is diehard cricket enthusiast and a PotterHead till the end of time. He can be followed on Twitter @CricCrazyNIKS)