EYE ON THE TARGET: Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane is keen to cross 1,000 runs and make amends for failures against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Chennai tomorrow

The key to Mumbai's stupendous success so far in this year's Ranji Trophy has been consistent performances from two rookies.

While Dhaval Kulkarni has been making the red cherry dance to his wishes, Ajinkya Rahane has been wielding the willow at will ever since Mumbai started their quest to regain the Ranji title against Rajasthan exactly two months ago.

Rahane, 20, has continued scoring runs like he did in his debut season last year in which he crossed the 1,000-run mark.

But what has been even more astonishing this season is that Rahane is on the verge of getting past 1,000 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season. Mind you, there's a vast difference between scoring 1,000 runs in a Ranji season and that in a first-class season, which includes the Ranji matches along with the Duleep Trophy, tour games and those played for India 'A'.

Only nine other players in the 74-year history of Ranji Trophy have achieved it.

From the first eight matches of the season, Rahane has failed to cross the 50-run mark in just two games.

And as Mumbai arrived here yesterday to face Saurashtra in the semi-final, Rahane is just 24 runs shy of the four figure barrier.

The right-hand batsman's runs, who has batted at No 3 for almost the entire season, have come in 14 innings at a whopping average of 75.07.
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Eager

Rahane was obviously eager to achieve the milestone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
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"It's a nice feeling to have been closing in on a milestone," Rahane told MiD DAY after the Mumbai camp, sans Sachin Tendulkar who will join the team today for the tie starting tomorrow, slugged it out for almost three hours. "And I will try and achieve the target in the semi-final. But more than the milestone, it's important to contribute to the team's success."u00a0

It wasn't surprising that the only low point in Mumbai's sojourn thus far the tail hung on after a batting collapse in both the innings to save the ignominy of an innings defeat by Saurashtra saw Rahane failing completely, scoring 0 and 4.

Rahane is desperate to set the record straight. "It was a forgettable outing," he said. "But it's good in a way that I have got another opportunity in the same season to come good against their bowlers."
If it does happen on Sunday, Saurashtra will find it difficult to get a grip on the game.

EYE ON THE TARGET: Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane