Rahil Sheikh, who made his Ranji debut last week, was the star performer for Mumbai as he wrecked the Punjab batting line-up with a devastating spell.
MUMBAI: Rahil Sheikh, who made his Ranji debut last week, was the star performer for Mumbai as he wrecked the Punjab batting line-up with a devastating spell. The tall, left-farm medium pacer claimed four wickets against the visitors on the first day of their Group A Super League match at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
The 6 feet 4 inches tall bowler was instrumental in bundling out Punjab for a mere 202. Mumbai, in return, finished the day on a solid 90 for 1 in just 19 overs. Despite losing Captain Wasim Jaffer early, Ajinkya Rahane and Vinayak Samant stroked the ball effortlessly to put Mumbai in a comfortable position.
Rahane was unbeaten on 53 from 60 balls while opener Vinayak Samant was 35 not out when the day ended. After winning the toss, Punjab decided to bat on a wicket that had good bounce. The Mumbai bowlers made the batsmen struggle with their accurate line and length. At times, Rahil Sheikh, who had claimed five wickets in his last match, was unplayable as he regularly beat batsmen with his pace.
All his four victims fell to deliveries that were either edged to the wicket keeper or the slip cordon. However, amidst the ruins, Ankur Kakkar stood like a rock and scored 76 runs with some delightful drives through the covers. He along with Uday Kaul (34) threatened to take away the match with a 96-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but were stopped by Abhishek Nayar who gave the breakthrough by dismissing the latter.
The end of this partnership triggered a collapse and soon the visitors were all out for 202. Sheikh was well supported by seamers Rajesh Verma, Abhishek Nayar and Usman Malvi who took two wickets each.
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