Mumbai: Forty two year old leg spinner Pravin Tambe was today surprisingly included in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team to take on Jharkhand in the four-day Group A match starting at the Wankhede Stadium here on December 6.
Lack of top quality spinners has apparently forced the Mumbai selectors to include Tambe, who made his mark in T20 cricket while playing for Rajasthan Royals in last season's IPL and Champions League but is yet to figure in first class cricket.
Tambe, who plays for the D Y Patil Sports Academy in local cricket, has picked up 13 wickets in 8 T20 games in his career. He will complement left arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar.
The defending champions made a few other changes in their squad that whipped Vidarbha by 338 runs yesterday.
The unavailability of captain and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who is to set off for South Africa, soon has once again opened the doors for Kshemal Waingankar to take his place in the squad. All rounder Abhishek Nayar will lead the side in Zaheer's absence.
The squad: Abhishek Nayar (Capt), Aditya Tare (Vice-capt), Wasim Jaffer, Hiken Shah, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Vishal Dabholkar, Siddhesh Lad, Javed Khan, Shardul Thakur, Akbar Khan, Kshemal Waingankar, Manish Rao, Pravin Tambe and Sagar Kerkar. Coach: Sulakshan Kulkarni.
IPL stint has boosted my confidence, says leggie Tambe
IPL stint has boosted my confidence, says leggie Tambe
Mumbai: Forty-two-year-old leg spinner Pravin Tambe, drafted into the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team for the first time today, is keen to carry the confidence earned from his stint in Indian Premier League into what would be his maiden first class game against Jharkhand from December 6.
"I have the experience of playing in IPL. But more than the experience, I have the confidence that I can bowl to good batsmen. I have to play with the same confidence here," Tambe told PTI after he was picked for the game against Jharkhand by the Mumbai selection panel headed by national chief selector Sandeep Patil.
Tambe earned his maiden call-up after becoming the leading wicket-taker in the Champions League T20 held in September and then adding 25 more scalps to his kitty in the ongoing local inter-club Kanga League tournament.
He scalped 12 wickets in five games at an average of 6.50 in the T20 League, and then picked up four five-wicket hauls in Kanga League A division for D Y Patil Sports Academy. The spinner was expecting the call-up and said it was a dream come true to represent Mumbai.
"When I returned from Champions League T20, my performance in Kanga League was really good. I bagged three 6-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul. If you perform well in A division and if the team needs spinners, then you can get into the team. I thought I could come into the team," he said.
"I have been playing Club cricket in Mumbai for so many years. To come into the Mumbai side itself is a dream. Whoever plays club cricket for Mumbai, their only dream is to represent Mumbai and that is a big thing for me," he added.
Tambe said playing in Ranji would be different from IPL. "It is a different ball game. IPL has white ball and only four overs (for a bowler) and your intention is to pick up wickets as the batsmen keep hitting sixes. Over here you have to pick up wickets and as well as curb the runs. It is completely different," he said.
Mumbai went in with only one spinner -- left-arm Vishal Dabholkar -- in the last game against Vidarbha and Tambe said he has a chance to make it to the playing eleven, if the team wants two spinners.
He felt that the pressure would be less on him as he would be playing for the team that won the trophy for the 40th time last year. "The pressure would be less on me because I would be playing with people who are champions and have the experience. The team is also winning matches, so their confidence would rub on me and I can do better," he said.
Tambe said his confidence was boosted when he bowled in the nets to Sachin Tendulkar before the Ranji match against Haryana, the batting legend's last domestic game. "I bowled for two days in the nets before his last Ranji match. It was a big thing for me to bowl to a great player like him and my confidence also increased," he said.
