Rohit hurts Railways again with a defining ton as Mumbai consolidate their position on Day One
Two years ago, on a turning track at Delhi’s Karnail Singh Stadium, Railways spinner Murali Kartik wove a web of spin around Mumbai batsmen. Rohit Sharma, however, stood firm with a heroic 101 to guide the 39-time Ranji champions out of the trough.
Railways may have reason to detest him. They couldn’t dislodge him on Thursday as the stylish batsmen struck an unbeaten 133 to put Mumbai at 338 for five on the opening day of the 2011 Ranji Trophy season.
Same track, similar attack, similar resistance.
But it wasn’t smooth-sailing for Mumbai to start with. It never is when you are 97 for three.
Batting first, Kaustubh Pawar (31) and Wasim Jaffer (33) got the starts but failed to cash in.
Abhishek Nayar was the missing link in the line-up. Now that he wasn’t around, who in the team was likely to stick around?
Enter Suryakumar Yadav. Talented, rated highly and many such adjectives suffixed to his name. Now he’s got the runs too — 88 (14 fours, 121 balls) in a 180-run stand with Rohit.
Rohit was effusive in praise of Yadav. “Different player, refreshing to watch,” he said. “He was playing sweeps and reverse sweeps at will. Time and again, people came with a message. They obviously wanted to him to slow down. But I told him to go for his shots.
“The problem with his style is that he’ll fail quite a few times. But that’s his style and he should back himself. He got out for 88, but he deserved a hundred. I’d say he was unlucky.”
Rohit, meanwhile, has a job to do. Get his own double hundred and propel Mumbai past 500. He believes a total in the range of 550 should suffice. It can be achieved with some resistance from Mumbai’s lower-order batsmen. Iqbal Abdulla showed how it could be done during a 49-run stand with Rohit.
“We want to bat only once. I can’t think of batting on this wicket on days three and four. A total of 550 should be enough. And to achieve that, I will have to carry on and score a really big knock. We will see off the new ball and then go for runs,” Rohit said, adding that he made it a point to play Murali Kartik well and even hit him for a six.
Yet it wasn’t the kind of surface that stroke-players like him relish.
“One of the toughest wickets I’ve played on. The pitch was behaving hilariously. Three out of six balls stayed low. In that context, I rate this knock very highly,” Sharma told DNA from the Le Meridien hotel where the Mumbai team is put up. The Indian team’s reference was inevitable during the conversation.
He said, “I played a couple of Twenty20 matches after recovering from my finger injury, but the pressure in a Ranji Trophy game is completely different. This knock is crucial for me. The Indian team is in the city and I feel a little odd not being with them. But I don’t want to rush myself. My batting should get me there.”
Scorecard
Mumbai: K Pawar c Khanolkar b Mali 31, W Jaffer c Kartik b Yadav 33, P Naik c Rawat b Bangar 10, R Sharma not out 133, S Yadav lbw b Anureet Singh 88, Iqbal Abdulla c Bangar b Khanolkar 25, O Gurav not out 9
Extras: (9NB) 9
Total: (5 wickets; 90 overs) 338
FoW: 1-56, 2-68, 3-97, 4-277, 5-326
Bowling: JP Yadav 20-5-44-1, A Singh 21-2-87-1, R Mali 8-2-38-1, S Bangar 11-2-38-1, M Kartik 22-1-95-0, S Khanolkar 8-0-36-1
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