Amol top of Ranji run-heap

Sat, Nov 7 06:48 AM

Though many hundred miles away from his cricketing nursery Mumbai, the railways ground at Maligaon, Assam was a symbolic setting for Amol Muzumdar to reach a deserving milestone of his long career. After plodding for 16 years in domestic cricket, Muzumdar finally scaled the mark of becoming the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy history, surpassing Punjab's Amarjeet Kaypee's record of 7,623 runs on Friday after he scored 25 runs in the second innings for Assam.

Just before moving to Assam from Mumbai earlier this season, Muzumdar had needed 31 runs to enter his name in the domestic record books. "I think it is a very special one, for the fact that it's an Indian record. Not everybody can reach such a stage in their career. My 16 years of toil in domestic cricket have paid off," Muzumdar told The Indian Express.

Though his first assignment in the Plate Division for Assam didn't go as per expectations after Rajasthan registered their first outright victory, nevertheless, Muzumdar calls his achievement a special one and quipped that he's glad there's at least one milestone next to his name. "How many players achieve things they wish for? I find myself as one of the unluckiest ones not to get the Indian cap but it's okay. At least now I can tell my daughter that her father is the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy," says the player, whose longevity and persistence is noteworthy. "She's too small to understand cricket, but once she grows up she will be proud," the middle-order batsman adds.

Looking back

"When I look back at these past 16 years, I see how far I have come. They went so quickly, maybe because I was playing in such a good environment. I have played with so many great players, I was lucky to be part of their teams," he explains.

At the time Muzumdar was making his Indian cricketing history, his old pal Sachin Tendulkar was entering Guwahati for the sixth India-Australia one-dayer. Asked if he wished he could have scored those 31 runs last season while playing for Mumbai, the middle-order batsman admitted the celebrations would have been much different after returning back to the pavilion, and even in the stands, where his father was a regular fixture every time Mumbai played at home.

"Here they clapped and everybody congratulated me," he said of what must have felt like strange surroundings after his time with Mumbai, whom he led to the title in 2006-7. With Assam scheduled to play Goa, Muzumdar will fly down home for a day before dutifully returning to what he does best — pile on the runs.

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