Mumbai rise from the ruins

BARODA: Vinayak Samant believes that if Mumbai can win against Baroda in their Ranji Trophy semifinal, his current score of 53 not out irrespective of the final individual score will be his best ever knock.

Samant had hit an unbeaten 64 against Uttar Pradesh in a losing cause in last year’s semifinal at the Wankhede. It is a knock he rates highly. But Wednesday saw Samant produce something special. By the time Samant glaced Irfan Pathan to the fine leg boundary to bring up his half-century and Mumbai’s 100, the wicket-keeper batsman had put Mumbai in a strong position.

He had walked in with Mumbai at 17 for 6. It was worse a little while earlier at 0 for 5. Left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan, playing Ranji Trophy to regain his form, had his tail up.

From the other end Rakesh Patel was matching, in pace and swing, his more famous opening bowling partner. The morale was down in the Mumbai camp. The video analyst was replaying the dismissals of the Mumbai top-order, five of them ducks, on the laptop.

Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar - the two experienced hands - had failed. Samant was not having the best of seasons with the bat. The wicket-keeper had ‘sitting duck’ written all over him as he strode to the wicket.

He joined Wilkin Mota in the middle. Runs were at a premium and the duo earned each of the next 66 runs that they put on for the seventh wicket. In the context of the game, it was a match-winning partnership.

Going in to Day Three, Mumbai now have an overall lead of 200 with three wickets to spare. Any addition to the score on Thursday will only make the task of chasing tougher for Baroda on a lively track on which doggedness not flair is the need of the hour.

Samant used the sweep shot to good effect against left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar and off-spinner Yousuf Pathan. Against the pacemen Samant played only with the full face of the bat and within the ‘V’ every batting coach will swear by.

Earlier, Mumbai let Baroda off the hook by dropping Yusuf Pathan on three occasions. Yusuf was finally bowled by Rajesh Varma. By then though he had plundered 70 runs off just 71 balls, including two sixes and nine hits to the fence. The butterfingers allowed Baroda finish at 142 after reeling at 67 for 7 at one stage. Wilkin Mota bagged three wickets as Mumbai pacemen shared the spoils.

At stumps, Muzumdar the Mumbai skipper, who was watching the game all by himself, broke into a smile, ran towards Samant and hugged him. “Well played Samanta,” Muzumdar shouted. Undoubtedly, Samant was the most loved player in the Mumbai dressing room on Wednesday.

Scorecard

Mumbai (1nd innings): 233

Baroda (1st innings)

C Williams c Kukreja b Hazare 8,
S Parab c Kukreja b Hazare 8,
R Solanki c Kukreja b Mota 13, J Martin c Samant b Mota 7, K Panchal b Nair 0, I Pathan b Nair 11, P Shah c Samant
b Mota 5, Y Pathan b Verma 70, R Pawar c Shah b Kulkarni 1, R Patel lbw b Verma 0, S Joshi not out 1, Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 11) 18,

Total (all out in 43.3 overs) 142
FoW: 1-9, 2-28, 3-44, 4-45, 5-56, 6-63, 7-67, 8-97, 9-105, 10-142

Bowling: R Verma 11.3-1-48-2, S Hazare 13-4-32-2, A Nair 7-2-33-2, W Mota 6-1-15-3, N Kulkarni 6-2-9-1

Mumbai (2nd innings)

S Kukreja c Pawar b IK Pathan 0, W Jaffer c Shah b Patel 0, H Shah c Parab b IK Pathan 0, A Muzumdar lbw b Patel 0, R Sharma lbw b IK Pathan 0, A Nair lbw b Patel 10, W Mota c Parab b Patel 33, V Samant not out 53, N Kulkarni not out 5,

Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 2) 8
Total (for 7 wickets in 41 overs) 109     

FoW: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-17, 7-83

Bowling: I Pathan 13-4-39-3, R Patel 12-4-27-4, S Joshi 3-1-5-0, R Pawar 4-0-20-0, Y Pathan 7-2-9-0, K Panchal 2-0-3-0