Mumbai may not have had a fruitful first day of their Group C match against Baroda on Thursday. They still need to defend another 108 runs to deny Baroda the first innings lead.
Mumbai may not have had a fruitful first day of their Group C match against Baroda on Thursday. They still need to defend another 108 runs to deny Baroda the first innings lead.
But, Mumbai’s coach, former wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe was confident of his team pulling it back in the remaining three days. Accepting that his batsmen were done in by the moving deliveries, Dighe expected that the pitch, prepared by the curator from Madhya Pradesh as only neutral associations will prepare the surface this season, to assist his more experienced seamers, especially in Friday’s morning session.
On the other hand, Baroda coach Atul Bedade did not expect Mumbai to be bowled out for 171. He had told his young and upcoming crop of players to go and give their best. “You guys have nothing to lose and just go out and enjoy. If you get out, you are getting out to a better team. If you take wickets, you will be packing a strong Mumbai side,” was the message Bedade told his players before the match here.
Winning the toss and making use of the pitch to bowl out the hosts for 171, Baroda could not have asked for anything better. Right-armer Atit Sheth, who took 5/50 in 19 overs – his third five-wicket haul in his third first-class season and eighth first-class match – and left-armer Lukman Meriwala (5/52 in 16.2 overs) rocked the high-profile Mumbai batting six minutes before tea.
A former India under-19 player, Sheth has been having a good season with both the bat and ball, having taken 11 wickets including one five-wicket bag in three matches this season before coming here. And, he has two unbeaten fifties and a hundred in them to prove his all-round capabilities.
A product of Kiran More academy in Baroda, Sheth said on Thursday: “I wanted to continue the good run I have been having this season. To play against a good side like Mumbai and, that too, in Mumbai, I wanted to take advantage of the green pitch.”
Having dismissed in-form talented teenager Prithvi Shaw and Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in successive overs for zero each gave him the maximum satisfaction at the end of the day.
“Prithvi has been scoring consistently, Ajinkya is an India player. My main aim was not to give batsmen width. Hitting the right areas and being consistent has been the key,” said the 21-year-old right-armer.
His shy, bowling partner, left-armer Meriwala, who hails from a place closer to former India pacer Munaf Patel in Ikhar, said that the Mumbai batsmen “looked to play a lot and that the confidence he had from bowling round the wicket, moving the ball either way, helped him to his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.”
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 "Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Ranji Trophy, Mumbai vs Baroda, Ajinkya Rahane, Atul Bedade, Lukman Meriwala, Sameer Dighe, Atit Sheth, Mu")
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