Ranji Trophy: Mumbai face desert storm

Rajasthan’s Vinit Saxena smashed a century and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s steady unbeaten 96 set a solid platform for Rajasthan to take the all important first innings lead against Mumbai on the second day in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal being played at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here on Saturday.

With only 18 runs required to take the first-innings lead, Kanitkar and Co will be gunning for a huge total in order to bat the defending champions out of the title race. The defending champions’ dream of winning hat-trick of titles may face an abrupt end here in Jaipur.

Opener Saxena and Kanitkar added unbeaten 206 runs for the second wicket giving no chance for the Mumbai bowlers. Visiting skipper Wasim Jaffer tried seven bowlers but all of them failed to provide a much-needed breakthrough. The visitors felt the absence of pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni as rest of them failed to take wickets.

With only dismissal of the day being veteran opener Aakash Chopra (17), Saxena (111 batting, 284 balls, 415 minutes, 14x4, 1x6) and Kanitkar (96 batting, 255 balls, 380 minutes, 14x4) made the opposition bowlers toil throughout the day.

Even experienced Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar looked clueless while bowling to the Rajasthan batsmen. After 80 overs, Mumbai took the new ball to give a chance to the fast bowlers to achieve a breakthrough as spinners —Iqbal Abdullah and Ramesh Powar failed to show the magic, but the plan did not work.

Saxena and Kanitkar scored runs at a slow rate and frustrated the Mumbai bowlers. The hosts scored their first 100 runs in 49.2 overs at a run rate of two . But, they managed to add another 100 runs in the next 30 overs.

Mumbai bowlers picked up Chopra’s wicket when Rajasthan’s total read 30. The former India opener and Delhi batsman lost his wicket to Agarkar when he failed to connect an inswinger, which
thudded into his pad right in front of the wicket. The umpire upheld the bowler’s appeal.

While Agarkar went for 57 runs in his 22 overs, Aavishkar Salvi and debutant Aaquib Sheikh gave away 34 and 42 runs respectively. Salvi bowled 20 overs and Shiekh bowled 14.

Even offie Powar and left-arm spinner Abdulla sent down 13 and 10 overs respectively without much success.

With batsmen like Rashmi Ranjan Parida, former India U-19 captain Ashok Menaria, Robin Bisht and Rohit Jhalani still to come, the hosts will definitely feel confident of creating the biggest upset in this edition of the tournament and qualifying for the semifinals after two decades.

Scorecard
Mumbai 1st Innings: 251 all out
Rajasthan 1st Innings
A Chopra lbw b Agarkar 17, V Saxena not out 111, H Kanitkar not out 96 Extras (B4, LB3, W3, NB2): 12 Total (1 wicket; 95 overs) 236 Fall of wickets: 1-30
Bowling: Agarkar 22-6-57-1,
Salvi 20-8-34-0, Shaikh 14-5-27-0, Nayar 14-4-42-0, Powar 13-4-30-0, Abdulla 10-2-29-0, Sharma 2-0-10-0