Ranji Trophy: Sachin Tendulkar slams Mumbai batters as Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane flop

livemint.com:

Sachin Tendulkar, the demi-god of Indian cricket, on Sunday criticized the way Mumbai batters played against Vidarbha in the final of the Ranji Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar was left disappointed at the batting performance of Mumbai as the home team suffered a middle-order collapse, which included another flop show from skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer despite a strong opening partnership between Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani. Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani gave Mumbai a strong start with an 81-run stand before Yash Thakur dismissed Lalwani.

Harsh Dubey got the wicket of Shaw a few overs later, leaving the Team Mumbai at 89 for two in 22.2 overs. Mumbai then faced four wickets down for 99 runs before lunch. Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer, who are the two most experienced batters in the side, scored seven runs each.

The middle order of team Mumbai collapsed from 89 for two to 111 for six in the next 97 balls. Tendulkar, who is often been seen appreciating young players and supporting of some of them when they are in the middle of criticism, criticized the Mumbai players for their average performances in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. The Master Blaster criticised the "ordinary batting" performance from Mumbai and applauded the Vidarbha bowlers for keeping things simple and applying pressure on the opposition.

Tendulkar took to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote: “After a good start, the @MumbaiCricAssoc batters played some ordinary cricket. On the other hand, Vidarbha have kept things simple and put Mumbai under pressure. I am sure there will be many exciting sessions in this game as the match unfolds.