Sachin Tendulkar made an appearance and spent time with the players at the nets, and the players could not have asked for more. Except, perhaps, the one question which nobody dared to ask: whether the master blaster would be out in the middle, come Tuesday.

During the 45-minutes he spent at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) Bandra Kurla Complex ground — hosting its first-ever first-class match — the world’s top run-getter shared his thoughts with every player of the team individually.

“Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect Tendulkar to be here, but it’s great to have him around. The boys will be certainly motivated,” admitted Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer.

In their last game against Saurashtra at Rajkot, Mumbai had struggled to stave off an innings defeat. For opener Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a miserable 0 and 5 in that match, a session with Tendulkar was precious. “Tendulkar told me not to think too much and to just play my natural game. Ball bagoon shot khel (play your shot according to the ball). he told me, ‘you have the potential to play a long innings, so just be focused and try to spend as much time possible at the wicket’,” Rahane said. Fellow-opener Sahil Kukreja also spend time with Tendulkar. "He didn't go into the technical details and gave more emphasis to watching the bowler deliver the ball," Kukreja said.

Interestingly, Tendulkar makes sure to keep a track of all Mumbai players and their performances through the year. Nineteen-year-old pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was shocked when Tendulkar spelled out the figures of his last outing. “He knows everything about each player. Today when I met him he told me ‘good show, nice to see that you are progressing day by day. Try to maintain it, you will do well again’,” informed Dhawal.

“That’s why he’s a master,” adds wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant. “He loves the game so much and wants to share his thoughts with everybody. He is so approachable.”

Mumbai are now hoping to see Tendulkar playing in the Ranji Trophy. “The only good thing to have happened from the blast is that now every state can have the services of their star players. Let’s see if Tendulkar can join us and I will also talk to Zaheer. Things will be clear once we know whether the Test matches are happening or not,” said Jaffer.

Laxman, Ojha to miss tie

VVS Laxman and Pragyan Ojha will miss the tie against Mumbai after they were ruled out due to injury. Laxman suffered a heel injury during his double hundred against Delhi while Ojha hurt his shoulder.

Hyderabad coach Kanwaljit Singh confirmed their absence. “Laxman experienced a shooting pain in his right heel when he batted in the last match against Delhi and had a runner too for the last fifty runs that he scored. He’s not in a position to play and has pulled out after being named in the team.”

For the hosts, opener Sahil Kukreja is likely to be replaced by Vinayak Mane.

“Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma will come in while Hiken Shah and Murtuza Hussain will go out. We want to strengthen our batting before we enter the knock-out stage,” said Jaffer.

Squads

Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Vinayak Mane, Ajinkya Rahane, Amol Muzumdar, Rohit Sharma, Sairaj Bahutule, Ajit Agarkar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Ramesh Powar, Usman Malvi, Dhawal Kulkarni