Mumbai gets ready for cricket

During the 45-minutes he spent at the Mumbai Cricket Association8217;s MCA Bandra Kurla Complex ground 8212; hosting its first-ever first-class match 8212; the world8217;s top run-getter shared his thoughts with every player of the team individually.

8220;Frankly speaking, I didn8217;t expect Tendulkar to be here, but it8217;s great to have him around. The boys will be certainly motivated,8221; admitted Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer.

In their last game against Saurashtra at Rajkot, Mumbai had struggled to stave off an innings defeat. For opener Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a miserable 0 and 5 in that match, a session with Tendulkar was precious. 8220;Tendulkar told me not to think too much and to just play my natural game. Ball bagoon shot khel play your shot according to the ball. he told me, 8216;you have the potential to play a long innings, so just be focused and try to spend as much time possible at the wicket8217;,8221; Rahane said. Fellow-opener Sahil Kukreja also spend time with Tendulkar. 8220;He didn8217;t go into the technical details and gave more emphasis to watching the bowler deliver the ball,8221; Kukreja said.

Interestingly, Tendulkar makes sure to keep a track of all Mumbai players and their performances through the year. Nineteen-year-old pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was shocked when Tendulkar spelled out the figures of his last outing. 8220;He knows everything about each player. Today when I met him he told me 8216;good show, nice to see that you are progressing day by day. Try to maintain it, you will do well again8217;,8221; informed Dhawal.

8220;That8217;s why he8217;s a master,8221; adds wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant. 8220;He loves the game so much and wants to share his thoughts with everybody. He is so approachable.8221;

Mumbai are now hoping to see Tendulkar playing in the Ranji Trophy. 8220;The only good thing to have happened from the blast is that now every state can have the services of their star players. Let8217;s see if Tendulkar can join us and I will also talk to Zaheer. Things will be clear once we know whether the Test matches are happening or not,8221; said Jaffer.

Laxman, Ojha to miss tie

VVS Laxman and Pragyan Ojha will miss the tie against Mumbai after they were ruled out due to injury. Laxman suffered a heel injury during his double hundred against Delhi while Ojha hurt his shoulder.

Hyderabad coach Kanwaljit Singh confirmed their absence. 8220;Laxman experienced a shooting pain in his right heel when he batted in the last match against Delhi and had a runner too for the last fifty runs that he scored. He8217;s not in a position to play and has pulled out after being named in the team.8221;

For the hosts, opener Sahil Kukreja is likely to be replaced by Vinayak Mane.

8220;Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma will come in while Hiken Shah and Murtuza Hussain will go out. We want to strengthen our batting before we enter the knock-out stage,8221; said Jaffer.

Squads

Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer capt, Vinayak Mane, Ajinkya Rahane, Amol Muzumdar, Rohit Sharma, Sairaj Bahutule, Ajit Agarkar, Vinayak Samant wk, Ramesh Powar, Usman Malvi, Dhawal Kulkarni

Hyderabad: Arjun Yadav capt, T Suman, Ravi Teja, Rushi Raj, Anoop Pai, Abhinav Kumar wk, Ahmed Qhadri, SM Shoaib, Lalit Mohan, Ashwin Yadav/Abdul Khader, MP Arjun