"India's loss not to see him in whites", Shastri heaps praise on Mumbai giant Amol Muzumdar

Muzumdar never played for India despite being a prolific run-getter at the domestic level.

Amol Muzumdar | TwitterIn what remains a popular tale of misfortune, Amol Muzumdar never got the chance to represent India at the highest level despite piling on runs at the domestic first-class level. 

Another giant from the Mumbai school of 'Khadoos' batsmanship, Muzumdar played 171 first-class matches in a career spanning two decades and scored 11,167 runs at an average of 48.13, including 30 hundreds. 

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The main reason why Muzumdar couldn't make it to the top-level was that most of his career coincided with that of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly. There was no vacancy in that rich batting line-up that India once boasted of. 

While Muzumdar has never really sulk down over this, his friends and well-wishers, people who have seen him bat at his peak, still feel for him.

On Friday (May 22), it was Amol's former Mumbai captain and India's current head coach, Ravi Shastri, who shared a nostalgic picture with the man from his (Ravi's) last season in first-class cricket in 1993-94 winter. 

"With one of #RanjiTrophy giants - @amolmuzumdar11. My last season was his first. I still believe it was #TeamIndia’s loss to not see him in whites. #GentleGiant #Mumbai @MumbaiCricAssoc," wrote Shastri over Twitter. 

Interestingly, Shastri's last season was Muzumdar's first, as he hit an epic double hundred on debut against Haryana in the Ranji quarterfinal. 

After Shastri's kind words, the 45-year-old thanked his "hero" and paid due respect. 

"He was my hero growing up. When he put his arm around my shoulder after we won the Ranji Trophy at Wankhede 1993-94 n said well done young man.! It is a memory I cherish even today. So thank you, skipper. You taught us to Win!", wrote Muzumdar, who has moved on to coaching and commentary post his retirement in 2013. 

 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 22 May, 2020

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