Ranji Trophy: Other teams getting stronger than Mumbai, says Sanjay Manjrekar
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels one reason for the recent dwindling dominance of oft-crowned Ranji champions Mumbai could be because other teams are getting stronger.
Even in this season’s Ranji Trophy, Mumbai have been made to wait till the last league game to try and seal their knockout spot. The 41-time champions need to beat Tripura in their last Group C league game, commencing on November 25, to make it to the quarters.
Last year, Mumbai were beaten by Gujarat in the final held in Indore. “May be one reason is that the other teams are getting stronger (in the Ranji Trophy). Earlier Mumbai and a couple of other metros who were dominant, now the small town boys are playing with the same kind of ‘jigar’ (enthusiasm),” Manjrekar said on Wednesday. “There are more players from around India who are putting up a stiff competition,” he said.
The topic came up at the discussion after Manjrekar and former Mumbai opener Lalchand Rajput released a book, ‘Spell-binding Spells’, penned by Anindya Dutta. Manjrekar also believes that in the early Mumbai teams, there was one India player, who was captaining the side and that is somehow missing in the present team.
“And the other reason, …read more
