Soon after the first day's play ended, the Mumbai team got into a huddle. The players' body language revealed just how the day had panned out. Deadpan expressions, drooping shoulders... it was hard to believe.
This is not how Mumbai were hoping to start their Ranji Trophy campaign at the Wankhede. Mind you, they were up against a talented but hardly threatening Jammu & Kashmir. Not anymore. Getting bowled out for 236 at the stroke off tea, and following that up with an ordinary bowling display to let the visitors end the day with 88/1, can be described as a pathetic performance.
The fact of the matter is that the Mumbai batsmen threw their wickets away. Electing to bat on a batsman-friendly track, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side opened with two debutants — Kevin Almeida and Bravish Shetty. The duo added 51 runs for the opening wicket. But they were gone in the space of an over. Blame it on inexperience. If Shetty (35) hit one straight back to seamer Ram Dayal, then Almeida (19) edged Umar Nazir to second slip.
A lot was expected from the man who walked in at No. 3. Wasim Jaffer (15) looked his usual self, caressing the ball through the covers and flicking one off the pads to mid-wicket. He looked good for a big one. However, tall seamer Samiullah Beigh, who was bowling away-swingers all this while, brought one back in. Jaffer, who went for a cover drive, saw his off-stump go for a cartwheel.
Aditya Tare (23) also got a start before throwing it away by pulling Dayal to Shubham Khajuria at mid-wicket as Mumbai took lunch at 100/4.
The situation only worsened after the break. Abhishek Nayar, too, returned cheaply after edging Dayal to wicketkeeper Obaid Haroon. Another debutant, Shreyas Iyer, also failed to impress.
Yadav, meanwhile, kept the ship steady by holding one end up. He did not hold himself back, punishing every bad ball. He also hit one out of the park. The skipper completed his half century in 47 balls.
Looked set for a big knock, Yadav went for an expansive shot against left-arm spinner Waseem Raza, but missed out only to see his stumps uprooted. That the tail scored some runs was as a bonus. Dhawal Kulkarni threw his bat around, hammering four sixes in his 42* off 61 balls even as the others perished. Mumbai were bowled out in 61 overs.
In reply, J&K recovered from 6/1 to end the day at 88/1 with Shubham Khajuria (47*) and Bandeep Singh (34*) at the crease.
Scorecard
Mumbai 1st innings
K Almeida c Bandeep Singh b Umar Nazir 19, B Shetty c & b Dayal 35, W Jaffer b Beigh 15, A Tare c Khajuria b Dayal 23, A Nayar c Haroon b Dayal 18, S Yadav b Waseem Raza 57, S Iyer c Haroon b Waseem Raza 7, D Kulkarni not out 42, Iqbal Abdulla c & b Parvez Rasool 1, S Thakur c Bandeep Singh b Parvez Rasool 12, V Dabholkar lbw b Waseem Raza 0
Extras: (W4, NB3) 7
Total: 236 all out in 61 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-59 (Almeida, 12.3 ov), 3-88, 4-100, 5-134, 6-158, 7-182, 8-191, 9-209
Bowling: S Beigh 17-1-97-1 (NB2, W3), R Dayal 16-2-51-3 (NB1), Umar Nazir 9-4-24-1, Waseem Raza 11-3-29-3, Parvez Rasool 8-1-35-2
Jammu & Kashmir 1st innings
S Khajuria batting 47, Adil Reshi c Kulkarni b Thakur 4, Bandeep Singh batting 34
Extras: (NB3) 3
Total: 88/1 wicket in 29 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-6
Bowling: D Kulkarni 7-2-23-0 (NB2), S Thakur 8-1-24-1 (NB1), V Dabholkar 5-3-6-0, A Nayar 4-1-19-0, Iqbal Abdulla 5-2-16-0
Elsewhere...
Group A
In Bangalore: Karnataka 290 all out (K Kapoor 87, CM Gautam 94, J Kaushik 4/53, M Mohammed 3/80) vs Tamil Nadu 22 for no loss
In Delhi: Madhya Pradesh 181 (A Singh 5/43, K Upadhyay 3/72) vs Railways 21 for no loss
In Baroda: Bengal 255/3 (A Das 54, S Chatterjee 91*, S Goswami 61*) vs Baroda
Group B
In Delhi: Delhi 260/6 (G Gambhir 123*) vs Saurashtra
In Pune: Odisha 223/5 (N Behera 66, B Samantra 64*) vs Maharashtra
In Patiala 273 (Yuvraj Singh 59; J Yadav 6/85, A Mishra 3/72)
In Jaipur: Gujarat 258/4 (S Gohel 52, P Panchal 68, B Merai 63*) vs Rajasthan
Group C
In Vizag: Hyderabad 281/6 (DB Ravi Teja 96, P Reddy 55) vs Andhra
In Guwahati: Tripura 135 all out (K Das 3/41, S Roy 3/6) vs Assam 68/4
In Wayanad: A Desai 75, D Misal 67*, S Bandekar 60*; B Thampi 3/97) vs Kerala
In Delhi: Services 226 (D Punia 64; VS Malik 3/33, R Dhawan 3/57) vs Himachal Pradesh 19 for no loss
Star Watch
Gautam Gambhir (123*)
Left out of the World Cup probables list, Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir slammed an unbeaten 123 (270b,2x6, 14x4) against Saurashtra
Yuvraj Singh
The ignored south-paw Yuvraj came up with a patient 99-ball 59 (6x4, 1x6) against Haryana
Amit Mishra
Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra came up with an impressive figures of 3/72 to bowl out Punjab for 273
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