Were not overconfident because of defending champions tag: Aditya Tare

Defending champions of Ranji Trophy, team Mumbai had to face a surprising defeat at the hands of Parthiv Patel led Gujarat side. They lost the all important final by 5 wickets as Gujarat rode on a magnificent ton by skipper Patel en route their tall chase. The skipper of side, Aditya Tare, spoke at length about the proceedings of the match as he reflected back at how half chances could have been taken.

His words surely indicated that the skipper was a tad disappointed but ended up crediting Gujarat for being a better side on the day. As per the quotes in Wisden India, Aditya Tare cited that it was the first innings debacle that hurt them throughout the match. Mumbai looked good at 90/2 but then lost their way.

“Two hundred-odd runs was a below-par score for us, considering we played seven batsmen. Though we lost the toss, we were 90 for 2 with two set batsman. From there, we should have consolidated and put on a good score but it didn’t happen. That was the first thing that went wrong for us,” quoted Aditya Tare.

Two of the senior batsmen in the team, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav, were seen getting out in a reckless manner. Many believed that they should have played more sensibly. Tare defended their dismissals calling it their natural game.

Also read- Gujarat v Mumbai Ranji Trophy final – Statistical Highlights

“Both Shreyas (Iyer) and Surya(kumar Yadav) like to go after the bowlers. These sort of dismissals aren’t surprising. Sometimes they play their shots and it doesn’t come off, making it look ugly. But that’s their game and we do back their game as it comes naturally to them. But at some stage, they do have to realise that it is going to cost us the games. The second session on the first day (when Mumbai lost 82 for 4) did the game for us. Though we played well in the second innings and came back strongly, what we did in the first innings was really poor,” he mentioned.

Giving a word on Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel, the Mumbai captain had a lot of praise for him. He called him a big match player. He mentioned that on the day, it was the luck that went in Parthiv’s favor and saw Mumbai ousted from the match.

“He is a terrific player. He has got a knack of scoring big runs in big games. He is a phenomenal player. That’s how he plays and goes after the bowling. Sometimes he gets out and sometimes he gets runs. If you see, he scored about eight to nine boundaries behind the wickets. That sort of luck he carried today, it worked for him. He played phenomenal knocks in both the innings. First scoring a 90, and then 140-odd in the second innings and especially when it comes from the captain, it really gives a massive boost to the team,” said Tare about Parthiv Patel.

When asked if the 41-time champions tag got to their skins, Aditya Tare was firm in saying that those titles were won by the seniors and not them. He pointed out that he has been a part of only two championship campaigns for Mumbai.

“We don’t think about the 41 titles. Those were won by our seniors. I have been part of just two Ranji Trophy-winning teams. There were some in the dressing room who have not won a title yet. I don’t think we were overconfident because of that,” he conceded.