A repetition of the same old story: Wasim Jaffer’s bad luck with the toss continued.
But there was one man who came to the Mumbai skipper’s rescue after Hyderabad elected to bat in a Ranji Trophy Super League Group A tie at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, near Hyderabad, on Tuesday.
Veteran quick Ajit Agarkar made the most of the early morning conditions and ripped through the top order, dismissing both the openers, P Shanshank Nag (8) and D Rushi Raj (15), to leave the hosts tottering at 24 for two inside nine overs. At stumps on Day One, Hyderabad were 223 for seven with Ahmed Quadri (48) and MP Arjun (8) holding the hosts’ fort.
Another India discard, Aavishkar Salvi, chipped in with two vital wickets only in his second first class outing after a long injury lay-off. Salvi joined the party and got rid off Anirudh Singh (4) by trapping him in front of the wicket.
Ambati Rayudu (27) and Abhinav Kumar (35) tried to steady the ship and stitched a crucial 57-run partnership before Abhishek Nayar sent the former packing in the 31st over. Agarkar then claimed his third wicket of the day removing Abhinav to further break the back of the hosts. Ibrahim Khaleel (35) and Syed Quadri then joined hands and forged a 73-run stand but Ramesh Powar broke the partnership when he had Khaleel trapped plumb in front.
Mumbai coach Pravin Amre was relatively pleased with his boys’ performance. “It was a great wicket to bat on. However, I must congratulate Ajit (Agarkar) for his effort. He swung the ball both ways and got us crucial breakthroughs. We will look to clean up the tail in the first hour of play tomorrow and then bat for as long as we can,” Amre told DNA from Hyderabad.
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