Ranji Trophy 2016/17: Mumbai Falter In Front Of Disciplined Gujarat Attack
Jan 10, 2017 at 6:24 PM
A disciplined bowling attack and the pressure to retain the Ranji Trophy wrote a script today which resulted in Mumbai being bowled out for a low score of 228, even after having an advantage of batting first, courtesy Gujarat who opted to bowl on what did not seem to be a bowling friendly pitch, until Mumbai batsmen made mistakes to be bundled out for such a low total.
After winning the toss, Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel made a surprising decision to bowl first. Gujarat got the first wicket of the comeback man Akhil Herwadkar when R.P Singh trapped him in front of stumps with a little assistance from the pitch.
Next wicket was of Shreyas Iyer who was tempted to drive the bowler through covers and soon he was trapped in the rat-trap before edging it to wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel off Chintan Gaja. Again, the pitch had no role to play and it was arbitrary decision from Iyer to go after the ball as he was just trying to be extra aggressive here.
Prithvi Shaw and SuryaKumar Yadav then took the charge and steered the team to a score of 106, adding 52 runs for the third wicket before Shaw was dismissed run out, after surviving a catch appeal.
Skipper Aditya Tare was dismissed four overs later which added to the woes of Mumbai but SuryaKumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar played few low scoring but effective innings to keep Mumbai afloat.
Abhishek Nayar was the last man to go after scoring 35 runs helping Mumbai get to a score of 228 runs.
For Gujarat, R.P. Singh grabbed two wickets. Chintan Jadeja and Rujul Bhatt also grabbed two-fers whereas Rush Kalaria and Hardik Patel picked up a wicket each.
Gujarat had a task of surviving one over with Shardul Thakur bowling but Samit Gohel, the triple centurion for Gujarat in the quarter-final played the over quite well and did not let Mumbai get a wicket which they wanted.
The first session tomorrow will be quite crucial as Gujarat will have a task to survive and then get past score of Mumbai, to get a good first innings lead.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 228 (Prithvi Shaw 71, SuryaKumar Yadav 57; Chintan Gaja 46-2, R.P. Singh 48-2) vs Gujarat at Indore.