A timely hundred by opener Wasim Jaffer set up Mumbai’s 82-run victory over Saurashtra in a Ramakant Desai Trophy one-dayer at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mumbai opener blasts ton, Nayar takes 6 wkts, as Mumbai thrash Saurashtra
MUMBAI: A superb display of wicket-to-wicket bowling by Abhishek Nayar, who picked up six wickets, and a timely hundred by experienced opener Wasim Jaffer set up Mumbai’s 82-run victory over Saurashtra in a Ramakant Desai Trophy one-dayer at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.
The win, Mumbai’s third on the trot in the competition, put the domestic giants on top of the league table of West Zone as the hosts overtook Maharashtra, garnering a bonus point in the process.
Taking first strike after losing the toss, Mumbai rattled up a mountain-like 308 for seven in their quota of 50 overs.
Besides Jaffer’s 102, a knock which contained 13 sweetly-timed boundaries and a six, the other main contribution came from skipper Amol Muzumdar, who hit a workman-like 77 in 76 balls and stitched together a 145-run partnership in 137 deliveries for the third wicket that set up the stage for the slog.
Of mention here also is an 85-run opening stand Jaffer put on with Sushant Marathe.
Saurashtra, in reply, always looked like they were chasing 246, the target they were required to achieve to avoid conceding a bonus point to Mumbai and were ultimately bowled out for 226 in the 44th over.
Another player who would remember the day is 17-year-old left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah. The youngster, who impressed against Sri Lanka recently, played his first game for Mumbai.
The biggest highlight of the match, however, was a 22-minute stoppage in play after 16 overs into the Saurashtra innings due to power failure. With the score reading 76-2 at that stage, one of the floodlights gave away. Thankfully, no overs were reduced, but it served as a poor example of playing domestic cricket under lights.
In the other game played earlier in the day, Yusuf Pathan, the elder brother of Indian all-rounder Irfan, played a blazing innings of 93, that required just 67 balls. Baroda, riding on this effort, beat Gujarat by 47 runs. After scoring 276-8, Baroda restricted their opponents to 229-8.
Brief scores
At Wankhede: Mumbai: 308-7 in 50 overs (Jaffer 102, Muzumdar 77) beat Saurashtra: 226 in 43.3 overs (S Kotak 65; A Nayar 6-28) by 83 runs
At CCI: Baroda: 276-8 (Y Pathan 93, I Sindhi 44) beat Gujarat: 229-8 (V Solanki 41) by 47 runs
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