Mumbai lose 4 wickets in last session after skipper scores a century; Rohit Sharma misses out on a deserving ton
Discipline is the bridge between goal and accomplishment. While Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer appears to have learnt this lesson, Rohit Sharma, however, seems like he is yet to grasp the idea as he missed out on a century.
Jaffer scored a classic long-version knock of 138 but Sharma paid for continuing his enterprising ways to get out on 93. At stumps on Day One, Mumbai gave away the advantage to end at 340/7 against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy season opener on Monday.
Mumbai, going in with two debutants; Omkar Gurav and Javed Khan, had a sedate first session. The hosts would have been on the mat from the first ball when Gurav’s edge fell centimetres short of the second slip off Jaidev Unadkat’s first ball in Ranji Trophy.
Gurav alongside southpaw Sushant Marathe, who came in the side after hitting a cracking 160 in Police Shield on Sunday, survived an hour before being caught behind by Samir Jogiyani to give Jayesh Odedra his first wicket. Jaffer stepped in and upped the scoring rate playing some of his trademark back-foot punches and silken cover drives.
Marathe too perished to the pair of Odedra and Jogiyani about half an hour before lunch to bring Sharma at the centre. The two gifted batters took the attack to Jaydev Shah & Co post lunch. Every bowler was made to look ordinary as Sharma-Jaffer pair sent them on a leather hunt.
The shot of the day came from the willow of Sharma when he hit Odedra straight over the sight screen for the maximum. He gave a similar treatment to Ravindra Jadeja too sending the ball smacking into the thick glass of the clubhouse restaurant. He looked well set for a ton till he perished trying to take the aerial route.
Sharma tried to hit the ball over mid on but didn’t connect it well and Unadkat did not spill the chance to give Jadeja his revenge. National selector Narendra Hirwani, present at the match, would have surely been impressed till Sharma gave it away. Mumbai still looked strong at 270/3 at tea, scoring 152 runs in the session.
It was the last session when Saurashtra clawed back in the game scalping four wickets and giving away only 70 runs. Post tea, Jadeja and Rakesh Dhurv bowled throughout taking two wickets each.
Abhishek Nayar perished top-edging Jadeja to keeper Jogiyani. New man Prashant Naik was undone with an arm-ball from Dhurv soon. In his next over, the left-arm spinner got Jaffer caught behind while trying to play a late cut.
Three runs later, Ramesh Powar was adjudged LBW to Jadeja as Mumbai scoreboard read 333/7. Ajit Agarkar and Iqbal Abdulla played through the last 30 minutes.
Jaffer said he had mixed feelings. While he was happy to start the season with a ton, he was upset with teammates’ particularly Rohit’s batting. “Rohit is a free-flowing player. He needs to be more disciplined to convert his explosive starts into 100s and 150s, which will help him and the team,” said Jaffer.
Scorecard
Mumbai: 1st innings: O Gurav c Jogiyani b Odedra 16, S Marathe c Jogiyani b Odedra 45, W Jaffer c Jogiyani b Dhurv 138, R Sharma c Unadkat b Jadeja 93, A Nayar c Jogiyani b Jadeja 24, P Naik b Dhurv 7, A Agarkar batting 10, R Powar lbw b Jadeja 1, I Abdulla batting 1
Extras: (LB3, NB2) 5; Total (7 wickets; 90 overs) 340
FoW: 1-37, 2-105, 3-252, 4-300, 5-325, 6-330, 7-333
Bowling: J Unadkat 18-2-68-0, S Maniar 11-1-47-0, J Odedra 16-3-71-2 (1nb), R Jadeja 30-2-100-3 (1nb), R Dhurv 15-5-51-2
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