After the third day’s play saw the see-sawing contest swing decisively in Mumbai’s favour before returning to a evenly balanced position by close of play.
Mumbai batsman is philosophical about dismissal on 199 as the hosts set tough target for Delhi
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy match against Delhi is poised for a close finish on the final day, after the third day’s play saw the see-sawing contest swing decisively in Mumbai’s favour before returning to a evenly balanced position by close of play.
Delhi must now chase 387 for victory on Monday, and already boast a useful start with Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir sharing an unbroken 59 for the first wicket. Mumbai’s batting took centre stage for the second day running however, and again it was Sahil Kukreja who stole the headlines.
Missing milestones is currently all the rage in cricket. On the same day that Shankara Rao was out for 90 playing for Andhra Pradesh against Orissa and Jamie How fell for the same score playing for New Zealand against South Africa, this match provided two examples of how nervous the nineties are at the moment.
Abhishek Nayar produced the best period of batting in the match so far to score a quickfire 93 after Mumbai had lost two early wickets, including Rohit Sharma for a duck. The collective groans at his dismissal were paled by the reaction to Kukreja finding a way to get out for 199, bowled off the inside edge by Delhi’s impressive left arm seamer Sangwan.
Having scored 110 twice before in First class games, Kukreja was happy to have bettered that mark at least. “I’d made 100s before, but not big ones,” he said, “after the century it was just a mental battle to build on it. I did well, but in the end I wasn’t calm enough.”
Scorecard:
Mumbai: 1st innings 166 all out, 2nd innings 471-9 dec: Kukreja c Chopra b Sangwan 199, Rahane c Bisht b Sangwan 20, Naik lbw b Narender Singh 23, Muzumdar lbw b Sangwan 7, Sharma c Bisht b Sangwan 0, Nayar b Sangwan 93, Agarkar c Narender Singh b Bhatia 60, Samant b Sharma 6, Powar c Manhas b Bhatia 3, Patel not out 8, Salvi not out 4, Extras (b 22, lb 13, w 3, nb 10) 48; Total (9 wickets dec; 112 overs) 471; FoW: 1-91 Rahane, 2-137 Naik, 3-174 Muzumdar, 4-186 Sharma, 5-360 Nayar, 6-390 Kukreja, 7-399 Samant, 8-408 Powar, 9-467 Agarkar; Bowling: Sangwan 27-4-102-5, Sharma 27-6-73-1, Bhatia 10-2-28-2, Nanda 22-3-105-0, Sehwag 14-0-63-0, Narender Singh 11-1-60-1, Manhas 1-0-5-0
Delhi: 1st innings 251, 2nd innings 52-0: Chopra no 33, Gambhir no 22, Extras (nb 4) 4, Total (0 wickets; 20 overs) 59 Bowling: Salvi 5-0-18-0, Agarkar 5-1-10-0, Powar 4-0-17-0, Nayar 5-2-13-0, Patel 1-0-1-0
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}