Tendulkar’s presence is a big boost: Agarkar

Mumbai, Jan 5 (IANS) Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar feels Sachin Tendulkar’s presence in the side will a big boost as it takes on Baroda in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Wankhede Stadium here Sunday.

Though Mumbai will be without the services of Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane; the record tournament champions will have the experience of Tendulkar, who recently announced his retirement from One-day Internationals.

Speaking to the media after practice, Agarkar said: “We have Sachin back which is great. It helps to have an experienced player in the dressing room. Also, there are other guys, Abhishek Nayar has had a terrific season for us, Wasim’s (Jaffer) around and Hiken Shah has done well too. We have guys who have done well throughout the season. We would have liked to have cruised a little bit more in to the quarter-finals but sometimes it is nice doing it the hard way. So yes, we are ready for tomorrow.”

Mumbai did not suffer any outright loss but they secured just one outright win in the league stage and edged into the top three in Group A by peaking at the right time.

“The Indore game (which Mumbai won against Madhya Pradesh) was a bit of lift. And against Gujarat we played well. (We knew that if in the last) three games, in fifteen days, if we play good cricket we are in with a good chance for qualifying. The first priority is (always) to qualify for the quarter-finals, which was a lot more difficult this year than it was,” Agarkar was quoted as saying by the BCCI website.

IANS 2013-01-05 19:44:02