After being jolted by laggards Jharkhand in the previous game, a depleted Mumbai would look to regroup and seal their place in the quarterfinals with an outright victory when they take on Odisha in their Group A Ranji Trophy league clash, starting here tomorrow.
Table-toppers and defending champions Mumbai have 20 points from five games, while Odisha, who have 10 points from five outings, would be keen to upset their applecart.
The 40-time champions survived anxious moments against minnows Jharkhand to eke out a draw and they would be desperate to put up a better performance in their last home match of the league stage here at the Wankhede Stadium.
"Last game was a wake up call. On the first day we were in a pretty good position but Saurabh Tiwary played a blinder kind of an innings, so if somebody scores 238 out of 350, you have got to give credit to him. We need to pull it up again. We need to win this game," Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer said.
"We look to get a lot of points out of this game, which will probably see us through to the knockouts," he added.
The hosts would rely heavily on seasoned player Jaffer (360 runs) and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare (509 runs) to pile up a big total.
The holders must be a bit concerned over the poor form of opener Kaustubh Pawar, who was dropped from the previous match, as well as Sushant Marathe, who replaced him against Jharkhand, and got a pair.
"Kaustubh hasn't done much so he was dropped, Sushant is playing after a couple of seasons. Siddhesh (Lad) is playing his first season. We are quite young in batting department but they are all talented. They just need to click and need just one good innings to get their confidence back," Jaffer said.
Mumbai have the likes of left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar, who is the top wicket-taker with 26 victims, in their ranks, while 42-year-old leg spinner Pravin Tambe could get his maiden first class game.
"We might look to play him (Tambe). He is an experienced guy and obviously the leg spinner brings a lot of variety as well and he can also bat so that gives us a lot of cushion. We haven't decided our playing 11 but I am sure he is a strong contender," Jaffer remarked.
