In a dramatic move, Jammu and Kashmir have entered the knockouts of Ranji Trophy after beating Mumbai. However, this is only the second time in the history of Ranji Trophy that Jammu & Kashmir have beaten Mumbai, while the last one came in 2014.

“Let’s give credit to Jammu and Kashmir. I thought they played this game really well. They bowled consistently in tight areas, they challenged our batting line up, especially in both the innings, so credit to them. We were not up to the mark as a team, as a unit. They challenged us and they played really well, so they deserved to win. They have quite a bit of talent in the lineup, especially in fast bowling,” Ajinkya Rahane said.

Their pace bowlers, Auqib Nabi, Umar Nazir and Yudhivir Singh collectively picked up 18 wickets in the match, leaving the star-studded Mumbai batting line-up in trouble that included the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, and Shivam Dube alongside Rohit and skipper Rahane as well.

“I think this season they’ve been doing really well. We saw their videos. They have been doing really well bowling in tight areas. I thought they read conditions really well at this wicket. Frankly, we didn’t expect that ball will seam that much. We thought it would be a good wicket to bat and it will spin on day two but obviously they bowled really well,” he again said.

Ajinkya Rahane also backed Rohit and Jaiswal, who had an ordinary outing, scoring 31 and 30 runs respectively as well.

“Rohit, Jaiswal have been playing and are coming here after a long time, playing international cricket. So it’s tough to analyse in this only one match because all the guys coming in you are quality players. One bad game can happen. I’m not too worried about what has happened. There’s still one per cent chance for us to qualify. So you never know. Our main thing is to learn from this game,” Ajinkya Rahane concluded.