Youngster Shreyas Iyer slammed his third ton of the season, a strokeful 137, while senior batsman Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 110 as Mumbai made an imposing 407 for 4 on day one of their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh, at Mumbai on Saturday.
Making full use of UP captain Suresh Raina's decision to field after winning the toss, Mumbai rode on the two centuries plus useful contributions from captain Aditya Tare (30), fellow-opener Akhil Herwadkar (58) and Suryakumar Yadav (58) to dominate on a batting track at the Wankhede Stadium.
While Iyer hit five sixes and 14 fours in his 110-knock that lasted three hours, Sharma - released from the first Test team after failing to make the eleven at Mohali - utilised the opportunity to occupy the crease for 194 minutes while striking one six and 13 fours in 128 balls. Both the batsmen played strokes all round the wicket and hardly looked in trouble against UP attack that was without left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar, who took ten wickets in their previous game against Gujarat at Valsad.
After the openers put on 55 for the first wicket, Iyer got involved in a century stand worth 106 with left-handed Herwadkar for the second wicket and then put on 98 for the third wicket with Sharma who started slowly before opening up to notch his 14th Ranji ton.
Iyer, who scored 173 against Baroda and 200 against Punjab, apart from an invaluable 83 against Tamil Nadu earlier, compiled his fifth first class hundred before edging Bhuvneshwar Kumar to wicket keeper Eklavya Dwivedi in the second over after tea.
However, Sharma continued to punish the bowlers as he added 99 runs for the fourth wicket with Yadav to demoralise the UP attack. At stumps, Siddesh Lad (12) was with him. Bhuvneshwar, also released from the Indian Test squad to play this game, was the most successful bowler with figures of 2 for 97 while tall Ankit Rajput and part-time bowler Umang Sharma secured the other two wickets to fall.
Brief scores: Mumbai 407 for 4 (A Herwadkar 58, S Iyer 137, R Sharma not out 110, S Yadav 58, S Lad not out 12; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 97) v UP.
