Middle-order batsman scores 156 as Mumbai post mammoth 603 against hapless Rest of India attack
The dearth in quality of the Rest of India bowling attack was exposed for the second successive day of the Irani Cup by Mumbai. The Ranji Trophy champions piled on the runs while also adding misery into the Rest side at the Brabourne Stadium here on Monday.
After 12 hours and five minutes of batting, Mumbai were all out for 603. At stumps, Rest of India were 36 for the loss of Andhra opener KS Bharat, still trailing by 567 runs.
Every Mumbai batsman who walked in to bat scored a minimum 50 runs while those who put a price to their wicket went on to reach triple digits, like Jay Bista on the first day and Suryakumar Yadav on Monday. The only exception to this among those who can bat were Abhishek Nayar and Dhawal Kulkarni, both falling in Haryana off-spinner Jayant Yadav's successive overs to sharp catching by Faiz Fazal at first slip.
But for these two setbacks in the second session that saw Mumbai post 64/3 in 29 overs, it was a day that was dominated by the hosts. The inability of the Rest bowlers to make a dent into the strong Mumbai batting threw open the debate of the choice of players for the Irani Cup.
Already depleted by injury of Ankit Rajpoot, who was hurt on the opening day and did not take the field on Monday, the visitors had to make do with three medium-pacers and Yadav. This Rest line-up looked perhaps the worst to participate in the Irani Cup. Except for Stuart Binny – who was part of the squad when India last played a Test series – and Saurashtra left-arm quick Jaydev Unadkat, who is on a comeback trail, there was none who looked India material.
Performances in the Ranji Trophy season were rewarded with places in Rest of India squad. But it defied logic when the season's highest wicket-taker, Shahbaz Nadeem (51 wickets) was left out and Yadav, with 19 sticks from seven matches, was preferred even ahead of Vidarbha off-spinner Akshay Wakhare, who took 49 wickets from nine matches.
At least the India bowlers who are not in T20 action now – Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron – could have been made to play to make it a good contest, unless they all are nursing some injury.
However, making the most of the opportunity, Suryakumar Yadav (156, 271b, 24x4, 1x6) scored his fourth first-class century of the season in his maiden Irani Cup appearance, and 10th century overall. It was also his highest score of the season. Captain Aditya Tare (65, 151b, 9x4) and Siddhesh Lad (66, 129b, 8x4) chipped in as well. Lad enhanced his reputation of batting competently with the tailenders.
Rest hoped that the second new ball, taken first up on Monday with Mumbai at 386/3, would do something off the pitch early in the morning. While Binny and Krishna Das operated steadily in the first half-an-hour or so, overnight batsmen Yadav and Tare were cautious in their approach.
This resulted in a dull first session where Mumbai posted 87 for the loss of Tare, who edged Das into Naman Ojha's gloves, thereby ending the 162-run stand for the fourth wicket.
So defeated were the Rest of India fielders that they just went through the motions when their bowlers prayed for batsmen to err. Often, the fielders gave up chasing the ball that was racing to the boundary. Perhaps a better bowling attack could have made Mumbai work hard for their runs even if the pitch was flat and had nothing for the bowlers.
It is now for the Rest batsman to justify their selection and make a fitting reply to make an even contest in this season-ending fixture.
SCOREBOARD
Mumbai (1st innings, o/n 386/3): S Yadav c & b Yadav 156, A Tare c Ojha b Das 65, S Lad c Ojha b Unadkat 66, A Nayar c Fazal b Yadav 2, D Kulkarni c Fazal b Yadav 0, I Abdulla c Ojha b Unadkat 29, S Thakur c Das b Yadav 18, BS Sandhu not out 1; Extras (B4, LB11, W2) 17; Total (all out, 158.2 overs) 603; Fall of wickets: 3-272 (54.1 ov, Iyer), 4-434 (103.5 ov, Nayar), 5-512 (128.5 ov, Yadav), 6-526 (136.4 ov, Nayar), 7-526 (138.1 ov, Kulkarni) 8-572 (153.4 ov, Lad), 9-585 (155.5 ov, Abdulla); Bowling: J Unadkat 28-1-128-2, K Das 40-12-152-2, A Rajpoot 17.4-4-73-1 (W-1), S Binny 25.2-5-89-1 (W-1), J Yadav 41.2-8-132-4, F Fazal 6-1-14-0
Rest of India (1st innings): F Fazal batting 18, KS Bharat c Lad b Nayar 16, J Yadav batting 1; Extras (LB1) 1; Total (for 1 wicket, 16 overs) 36; Fall of wicket: 1-29 (12.3 ov, Bharat); Bowling: D Kulkarni 5-1-6-0, BS Sandhu 4-0-15-0, S Thakur 4-0-10-0, A Nayar 3-1-4-1
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