Despite being heavyweights, Mumbai is not favourite to win Ranji Trophy 2024-25

Despite Mumbai’s rich Ranji Trophy history, their 2024-25 campaign has been underwhelming. Struggling with form, they enter the quarterfinals without the favourites tag.

Mumbai is one of the biggest teams in Ranji Trophy history, always the heavyweight and consistently providing the best players to the Indian team over the years. This year, the Ranji Trophy has seen some good action. However, despite making it to the quarterfinals, Mumbai seems to be struggling with their form. Even though they have 6 Indian players in their squad, they haven’t been able to capitalise much. They are set to play their quarterfinal match against Haryana on February 8. Despite being the heavyweights, they don’t seem like the favourites to win this year’s Ranji Trophy.

Mumbai’s final-minute qualification to quarterfinals

Mumbai had a challenging road to the quarterfinals, relying on other teams at the last moment to secure their spot. They played 7 matches, out of which they won 4, lost 2, and drew one. They lost matches against teams like Vadodara and the underdogs Jammu and Kashmir. They didn’t even top their Elite Group A, where Jammu and Kashmir were first and Mumbai was second. They were just 2 points above Baroda to go into the quarterfinals. If Baroda had won against Jammu and Kashmir, it would have been impossible for Mumbai to reach the quarterfinals.

Other teams in Ranji Trophy looking strong

It’s not just that Mumbai is playing poorly, but other teams are looking really good ahead of the quarterfinals. Talking about Jammu and Kashmir, Vidarbha, Gujarat, and Haryana, none of them have lost a single match in this year’s tournament. Haryana, against whom Mumbai is going to play, has played 7 matches so far, winning 3 and drawing 4 matches. Their last win came against Bengal, where they won by 283 runs, and their most recent match was a draw against Karnataka.

No big names in the knockouts

Mumbai will be playing their knockouts without many big names. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer are playing ODIs against England. The only high-profile players in the quarter-final are Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Ajinkya Rahane. Out of these players, only Ajinkya Rahane is a proper red-ball cricketer. Talking about this season, Shivam Dube failed in the match against Jammu and Kashmir recently, where he scored zero runs in 2 innings. As for Suryakumar Yadav, he has played only one match in this year’s Ranji Trophy, where he scored only 7 runs against Maharashtra.

Shardul Thakur, Ayush Mhatre bring positive attitude

There are some positives for Mumbai cricket. The return of Ayush Mhatre, who has been a consistently good player for the team, is encouraging. In the 10 innings he has played, he has scored 413 runs. Also, Shardul Thakur is in good form, having scored 381 runs in 18 innings. Talking about his bowling, in 14 innings, he has taken 24 wickets, which is remarkable this season. He has also taken a hattrick this season against Meghalaya. Shams Mulani is also in top form currently, and these players could do well in the upcoming matches to save their team.