“We were not disheartened. We knew we could fight back,” said Shams Mulani at the end of the first day of play in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Mumbai and Haryana at Eden Gardens. The all-rounder had a point. For the umpteenth time in the recent past, Mumbai recovered from a collapse thanks to their all-rounders. From 25/4 and 113/7, they ended the day at 278/8.
Mulani fell towards the end after making 91, but not before sharing an eighth-wicket stand worth 165 with Tanush Kotian, who remained unbeaten on 85. It’s a five-day game and a lot of cricket remains to be played on a surface offering seam movement in the first hour or so, given the 9am start. However, it can be said that this partnership can turn out to be the defining one of this match.
The ball jagged around in the initial stages on a surface decent for batting otherwise. Haryana’s pace sensation Anshul Kamboj uprooted the middle-stump of Mumbai’s Ayush Mhatre with the first ball the match. Three more batters —Akash Anand, Siddhesh Lad and Suryakumar Yadav — had their stumps shattered soon after. By the eighth over, Mumbai were four down.
Kamboj and his new-ball partner Sumit Kumar bowled the ideal lengths to keep the batters guessing. It was relentless accuracy from both ends. There was hardly any loose ball and the bowlers forced the batters into mistakes. Kamboj was the bowler of the day, for making the new ball move both ways and showing a big heart by bowling long spells.
A fifth-wicket stand of 40 between skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube seemed to have revived Mumbai. Dube was prepared to take the attack to the opposition, but fell when he chased a wide one to be caught at a wide second slip. Rahane was the more assured of the two and played some fluent drives. Kamboj made him play one just outside off and moving away late. At lunch, it was 101/6 and this became 113/7 when Shardul Thakur left soon into the second session.
“This was not the first time that we were six or seven down without too many runs on the board,” said Mulani, the left-handed all-rounder. “We didn’t lose composure. Our captain told us that the situation wasn’t good, but we could still stage a recovery. We also had this belief, having done it on many occasions in the past. We knew we could be back in this and that’s what we did.”
Brief scores: Mumbai 278/8 (Shams Mulani 91, Taniush Kotian 85 bating, Anshul Kamboj 3/58) vs Haryana.
Nair at it again for Vidarbha
In Nagpur, Vidarbha and Tamil Nadu were Even Stevens. Karun Nair made an unbeaten 100 and lifted Vidarbha from a shaky 167/5 to 264/6 at stumps. Nair, who was in scintillating form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers, shared a fourth-wicket stand of 98 with Danish Malewar, who made 75. In a spin-heavy Tamil Nadu attack, Vijay Shankar’s medium-pace fetched 2/50.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 264/6 (Karun Nair 100 batting, Danish Malewar 75) vs Tamil Nadu.
Nidheesh hands Kerala the edge
In Pune, Kerala medium-pacer MD Nidheesh took 5/56 to hand his team the advantage against Jammu & Kashmir. None of the batters crossed fifty as J&K ended the day at a shaky 228/8. Kanhaiya Wadhwan made 48 and Lone Nasir 44.
Brief scores: J&K 228/8 (Kanhaiya Wadhwan 48, Lone Nasir 44, MD Nidheesh 5/56) vs Kerala.
Pujara fails as Gujarat take Day 1 honours
In Rajkot, Gujarat reached a strong position by dismissing Saurashtra for 216 and finishing the day at 21 without loss. Saurashtra lost the plot after a decent start and slipped from 127/2. Chirag Jani, who made 69, was lone man to cross fifty. Cheteshwar Pujara was out for 26.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 216 (Chirag Jani 69, Chintan Gaja 4/48). Gujarat 21/0.