Loss in the Irani Cup will serve as an eye-opener for Mumbai

Mumbai may have lost their fifth successive attempt over a period of 12 years to regain the coveted Irani Cup yesterday. But the loss to Rest of India has certainly got Wasim Jaffer's men thinking about the season ahead.

Rain trouble
After the last day of the match did not see a ball being bowled due to incessant rains in Nagpur, Rest of India were awarded the trophy on the basis of their first innings lead of 30 runs.

If the season-opening tie is to be set as a yardstick, then Mumbai have plenty to ponder ahead of the Ranji Trophy campaign, which begins against Punjab on November 3. "The Irani Cup was a good eye-opener for Mumbai," former India opening batsman and cricket manager Lalchand Rajput said yesterday.

"There are a lot of areas to work on before the beginning of the season."

With the absence of Amol Muzumdar, who has switched loyalties to Assam, and Abhishek Nayar, who was on national duty, the middle order appeared a little fragile.

"Rohit (Sharma) has to fire," Rajput added. "Otherwise, the middle order looks quite thin. Hopefully, youngsters like Prashant Naik will make best use of having faced top-quality bowlers early on in the season."

Too early
However, former Mumbai skipper Milind Rege felt it was too early to ring the alarm bells. "It's just the start of the season. Plus, bad weather forced almost two days' play to be washed out," said Rege, who was doing television commentary for the match.

"So, I would not look at the result with despondency. Had Mumbai scored 30 more runs, they would have won. The match has given them a direction to chalk out their strategies."