Having been dropped from the Mumbai squad for the Buchi Babu tournament, Amol Muzumdar has decided to join Assam for the upcoming domestic season. "I have given a good thought before taking the decision," Muzumdar told DNA. "Believe me it was a tough decision. There are bound to be some ups and downs in a player's career. My name was not there in the Buchi Babu squad. I felt it was some kind of an indication."
The 34-year-old right-hand batsmen admitted that he had been pondering over an offer made to him by the Assam Cricket Association and said his task was made easier when he failed to make the cut for the all-India invitational tournament currently underway in Chennai.
Muzumdar has played 144 first-class matches, scoring 9558 runs at 49.52. He has scored 3103 runs in the 104 List A games at 39.78. He made a disappointing 359 runs in nine matches at 27.61 last season and is 31 shy of breaking the Ranji Trophy record for the most runs, currently held by Amarjit Kaypee with 7,623.
"I've not played first-class cricket since February," said Muzumdar. "My next match will be on November 3. It is a matter of nine months. It has not crossed my mind too many times. I feel will be very happy when I get there."
However, Muzumdar said he would have been happier if he had broken the record playing for Mumbai. "Mumbai is always close to my heart," he said. "I would have loved to have done that with the lion crest on my cap. I've set some other goals in my career which I will try and achieve."
Muzumdar said he was "lucky" to have played with three generations of players in his 16-year career for Mumbai. "I've to thank a lot of people," Muzumdar said. "My first captain Ravi [Shastri] who believed in my ability. My first coach Karsan Ghavri and lot of other guys. The three generations of cricketers are Ravi, Salil Ankola, Sanjay Manjrekar, then my friends Sairaj [Bahutule], Sameer [Dighe], Abey [Kuruvilla], Wasim [Jaffer], Vinod [Kambli] and finally with youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar and Sahil Kukreja. I will also miss the dressing room."
He also said that no one in the Mumbai Cricket Association tried to reverse his decision. "Nobody. I spoke to Sachin and he was pretty okay with my decision," Muzumdar said.
