Muzumdar misses opportunity to become Ranji's heaviest scorer

Muzumdar missed an opportunity to become the highest Ranji run-getter yesterday, but there is a good chance that he will get the required 40 runs in Mumbai's second dig

Amol Muzumdar

Muzumdar missed an opportunity to become the highest Ranji run-getter yesterday, but there is a good chance that he will get the required 40 runs in Mumbai's second dig

Amol Muzumdar has been one of the unsung heroes of Mumbai cricket. Though he has been the backbone of Mumbai's batting order ever since scoring 260 on first-class debut 16 years ago, Muzumdar has been unfortunate not to get a break in the India squad.

So when Muzumdar, Mumbai's highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy, entered the ground after Sachin Tendulkar retired ill during the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra yesterday, everyone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium expected him to get at least 42 runs.

Muzumdar, with 7,582 Ranji runs, was 42 short of surpassing Amarjeet Kaypee's mark of 7,623 runs and become the highest run-getter in the history of Ranji Trophy.

Disappointing
However, Muzumdar did not last long and nicked one from left-arm seamer Balakrishna Jadeja to wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani after scoring just two runs. "It was disappointing that Amol could not get to the milestone today, but we hope he surpasses the feat soon," Mumbai coach Praveen Amre told MiD DAY.

But Muzumdar can still hope to overtake Kaypee's mark well before the all-important Ranji Trophy final. Skipper Wasim Jaffer hinted yesterday that Mumbai will opt to have some batting practice instead of going for an outright win if they manage to skittle Saurashtra out.

Second chance
No cricketer likes to delay any milestone and Muzumdar will not be an exception.

The veteran and his teammates will keep their fingers crossed for him to get those 40 runs either today or tomorrow.