‘Hurt’ Aditya Tare quits Mumbai for Uttarakhand

Aditya Tare too has quit Mumbai. The experienced wicketkeeper, who led the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions to their last Ranji title in the 2015-16 season, will play for the hilly state of Uttarakhand as a ‘Professional’ in the upcoming season. The Mumbai selectors had recently excluded Tare from the list of 47 players for an off-season fitness camp at BKC.

He was dropped from the Vijay Hazare Trophy last season, and was told by the selectors at that time that he wasn’t in the scheme of things in white-ball cricket anymore. All this seemed to have hurt the veteran ‘keeper-batsman, who applied to the Mumbai Cricket Association for an No-Objection Certificate to play for another state to the MCA on Monday. “I won’t lie, it did hurt a bit the way things ended.

But it’s time for new challenges, new environment and I am excited for this new phase in my playing career with so much yet to offer,” Tare said on Monday in an emotional statement to TOI. “It’s difficult to put into words how I feel about moving on from Mumbai. Since I was about 16 years when I got my first Mumbai cap (for the Mumbai under-17 team), until today at the ripe age of 34, I’ve enjoyed myself, played with absolute pride and lived my dream of being a Mumbai player,” Tare said.

The 34-year-old first captained Mumbai to the semifinals in the 2014-15 season. He also led Mumbai to the final of the Ranji Trophy in the 2016-17 season. “Along the way I’ve had some successes and achievements and also endured criticism and failures but the moments spent with my teammates during those wins and losses have been my most enjoyable memories.