Last year, the 39-times champions Mumbai slipped against Rajasthan — the eventual winners — and got knocked out in the quarterfinal stage. In the corridors of power of the Mumbai Cricket Association and around the maidans that stretch across the commercial capital, failure to reach the final is considered nothing short of a catastrophe.

Captain Jaffer kept his job but this time around if Mumbai don’t advance past Madhya Pradesh, the team that was promoted alongside Rajasthan last year, there would be a severe inquisition.

Jaffer’s side will face hardy opponents who have progressed on the strength of their medium-pacers, TP Sudhindra and Ishwar Chand Pandey. Naman Ojha’s runs (560 in 6 matches) at the top of the order have been key. But rather than worrying about the strength of the personnel of his opponents, Jaffer will hope his weakened side will be able to lift up their game.

Thin on experience

In last year’s Round of Eight game, Mumbai’s middle-order against Rajasthan included Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar. While Sharma and Rahane are in Australia on national duty, Nayar won’t feature in this game as a thumb injury has resurfaced. That means only Jaffer and off-spinner Ramesh Powar will be classified as experienced campaigners.

The Mumbai top order, leaving out Jaffer’s wealth of experience, has in all played just 22 First-Class games. For MP, medium pacers Sudhindra and Pandey have combined to scalp 57 wickets thus far.

“What we have seen over the years is that whichever team loses to Mumbai in the knock-out stage goes on to win the title more often than not. Here again we will be playing a side which has done well and have made it to knock-out stage. Against MP we don’t want to repeat the mistakes we made against Rajasthan,” Jaffer said on the eve of this match.

Madhya Pradesh have had a topsy-turvy season. In their first game against Baroda they were bowled out for 63 and eventually lost the match. However, they recorded outright wins against Gujarat and Delhi.

MP captain Devendra Bundela says that preparation was the key to the team’s success so far. “We played in Sri Lanka in the run-up to the Ranji Trophy. We won all games and even chased down 500 on one occasion. We came into the season with a lot of confidence,” Bundela said.

While MP will back their medium-pacers to fire, Mumbai may opt for three spinners — Powar, left-arm spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Ankeet Chavan. Dhawal Kulkarni and Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr will use the new ball.