Murtuza Hussain sizzles on comeback

Comeback man Murtuza Hussain scalped three wickets for 50 runs as Ranji champions Mumbai put up a dominant display against holders Tamil Nadu Districts on Day One of their opening match in the Buchi Babu All-India invitational tournament at the Infosys Ground here on Tuesday.

The hosts, who chose to bat first in the two-day encounter, were bowled out for 198 in 69.3 overs. In reply, Mumbai, led by all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, were 60 for no loss at stumps with openers Sushant Marathe (24 batting) and Swapnil Salvi (19 batting) starting positively.

Hussain, who was suffering from a persistent shoulder injury, last played a first class match in 2008. Teenage left-arm spinning sensation Harmeet Singh (3/44) and offie Vikrant Yelligati (2/52) also rose to the occasion for the 39-time Ranji champions.

After the initial burst from Hussain, spin duo of Harmeet and Yelligati didn’t let the home team settle down.

Earlier, a 62-run partnership between Vijay Shankar (39) and S Sureshkumar (32) helped the Districts lads post a competitive total. G Vignesh scored 35 and K Sriram chipped in with 26.

Brief scores: Districts 198 in 69.3 overs (V Shankar 39, G Vignesh 35, S Sureshkumar 32; H Singh 3/44, M Hussain 3/50) vs Mumbai 60 for no loss in 19.3 overs; MP 307/7 in 90 overs (J Ali 100, D Bundela 66, H Singh 57) vs Karnataka; UP 239 all out in 77.2 overs (P Singh 67, T Srivatsav 59, A Yadav 33; B Jadeja 3/31, K Makwana 3/53) vs Saurashtra 28/0 in 10 overs; Orissa 223 all out in 77.5 overs (N Behera 61, R Mohanty 44; G Rao 4/78) vs AP 16 for no loss in 10 overs; Vidarbha 278/9 in 90 overs (A Naidu 60, R Paradkhar 63; R Sutheesh 3/56, M Prabhu 3/82) vs Tamil Nadu