Dec 26: A rare combo of a veteran and a youngster brought wrinkles on the forehead of Mumbai players all through the day with Saurashtra’s Sitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwar Pujara frustrated the Mumbai bowling attack by showing their resolute batting effort on the opening day of the crucial Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy super league cricket match here on Tuesday.
The duo took Saurashtra to a comfortable 202 for two at stumps after they came together at the score of 92. Kotak (73 batting, 268b, 9x4) and Pujara (61 batting, 129b, 12x4) scored contrasting half-centuries to defy Mumbai attack. The pair’s marathon effort yielded 110 runs in 42.4 overs for the third wicket.
Kotak, who batted all through the three sessions faced 268 balls in making 73 studded with nine fours, while Pujara 61 hit 12 boundaries facing 129 balls in his 176-minute knock.
Earlier, put in to bat by Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar, who is playing his 100th Ranji match, Saurashtra lost its opener Sagar Jogiyani early at the score of 11. Other opener Kanhaiya Vaghela was too shown the pavilion’s way after he became medium pacer Murtaza Hussain's second victim on 35.
Mumbai’s decision to bowl first on a placid wicket at their home ground backfired as their fielders were on a leather hunt for most of the time. Mumbai will now go for early wickets on Wednesday morning that can bring them back to the game.
SCOREBOARD
Saurashtra (1st innings):
K Vaghela c Samant b Hussain 35
S Jogiyani b Hussain 5
S Kotak batting 73
C Pujara batting 61
Extras: (b 4, lb 15, nb 6, wb 3) 28
Total: (for 2 wkts, in 90 overs) 202
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-92
Bowling: Hussain 19-6-32-2, Mungela 20-9-32-0, Nair 13-4-29-0, Powar 16-4-33-0, Kulkarni 17-4-47-0, Muzumdar 4-1-6-0, R Sharma 1-0-4-0
RANJI ROUND-UP
Harshad Khadivale’s 96 was the knock of the day in Maharashtra’s 276 all out against Karnataka at Ratnagiri. Pacer Vinay Kumar claimed four wickets for the visitors.
Orissa medium-pacer Basanth Mohanty continued his good run as he took four for 55 in Baroda’s 241 for nine on day one in Vadodara.
Mukesh Sharma’s 101 stood out in Himachal Pradesh’s 280 all out against Rajasthan at Dharamsala.
Left-arm paceman Rana Chowdhary’s four for 13 aided Bengal to bundle out Andhra for 121 in Kolkata.
SCORES
Super league:
At Ratnagiri: Maharashtra 276 in 86.1 overs (Harshad Khadiwale 96, Dhruv Mohan 51, Venugopala Rao 47, Vinay Kumar four for 66) vs. Karnataka two for no loss in one over.
At Vadodara: Baroda 241 for nine in 90 overs (Pinal Shah 44, Sankalp Vohra 45, Basanth Mohanty four for 55) vs. Orissa.
At Kolkata: Andhra 121 in 49.2 overs (Rana Chowdhary four for 13) vs. Bengal 46 for one in 24 overs.
At Hyderabad: Uttar Pradesh 293 for six in 90 overs (Tanmay Srivatsava 81, Piyush Chawla 82, Amir Khan 44 batting) vs. Hyderabad.
At Dharamsala: Himachal Pradesh 280 in 86.2 overs (Hemant Dogra 71, Mukesh Sharma 101) vs. Rajasthan five for no loss in one over.
PLATE (Semi-finals)
At Nagpur: Kerala 207 for six in 91 overs (Antony Sebastian 52, Sreekumar Nair 44) vs. Railways.
At Delhi: Gujarat 192 in 77.4 overs (Timil Patel 71, Ashraf Makda 40) vs. Madhya Pradesh three for one in 5.1 overs.
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