Maha show on Day 3 of Ranji Quarters
Mumbai: In 61 Ranji Trophy matches, Maharashtra have managed to beat Mumbai, the domestic powerhouse just twice. They registered their maiden victory in 1952 in Solapur and after a long wait of 54 years, recorded their only other victory at the Wankhede Stadium here in 2006.
After a disastrous second day’s play on Thursday, the visitors were on the brink of defeat but a marvellous performance — on a day when 14 wickets fell — has put Maharashtra in contention for a historic quarter-final win. Trailing by 122 runs after their first innings ended on 280 in reply to Mumbai’s 402, Maharashtra staged a remarkable recovery to skittle Mumbai for only 129 runs. At stumps, the visitors progressed to 28/1, needing a further 224 runs.
Fast bowling trio of Anupam Sanklecha (4/57), Shrikant Mundhe (3/26), and Samad Fallah (3/45) demolished the Mumbai batting line-up, reducing them to 29/5 in just 11 overs in their second essay. The three hit the deck hard, bowled in the right areas and the fielders held on to the catches in the slip cordon. Such was their dominance that Akshay Darekar, the tournament’s top wicket-taker was not even required to bowl.
Mumbai were in trouble straight away when senior bat Wasim Jaffer (0) edged to second to slip and fellow opener Kaustubh Pawar, who has had a disastrous season, fell cheaply yet again. The second session too proved costly as the visitors picked up five wickets in 20 overs, two of which were of Vinit Indulkar and Abhishek Nayar in successive deliveries off Sanklecha. The much needed resistance was provided by first innings’ centurion Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 47 balls) and Iqbal Adbulla (27 off 31 balls) and they put on 48 on board before Mundhe picked his first wicket to remove Abudlla. Mundhe then trapped Yadav in front and Mumbai’s innings ultimately folded after Shardul Thakur’s gritty knock of 33 runs.
SCORECARD
Mumbai (1st innings): 402
Maharashtra (1st innings): H. Khadiwale c Indulkar b Thakur 4, R. Motwani lbw b Thakur 0, V. Zol b Z. Khan 15, K. Jadhav c Tare b Dabholkar 51, A. Bawne c Tare b Thakur 84, S. Atitkar c Indulkar b Thakur 8, C. Khurana c Pawar b Khan 21, S. Mundhe c Tare b Thakur 38, A. Darekar c Tare b Khan 36, A. Sanklecha c Dabholkar b Thakur 7, S. Fallah (not out) 0. Extras (nb2, w3, b8, lb2) 15. Total (in 84.3 overs) 280.
FoW: 1-1, 18-2, 3-24, 4-139, 5-161, 6-170, 7-191, 8-264, 9-280.
Bowling: Z. Khan 17-5-51-1, Thakur 19.3-0-86-6, J.Khan 14-1-49-2, Nayar 8-1-20-0, Dabholkar 17-6-58-1, Abdulla 9-5-6-0.
Mumbai (2nd innings): K. Pawar c Atitkar b Fallah 5, W.Jaffer c Khurana b Sanklecha 0, A. Tare c Khurana b Fallah 16, V. Indulkar c Motwani b Sanklecha 4, A. Nayar c Khurana b Sanklecha 0, S.Yadav lbw b Mundhe 33, I.Abdulla c Atitkar b Mundhe 27, S.Thakur c Motwani b Fallah 33, Z. Khan lbw b Mundhe 4, J. Khan b Sanklecha 6, V. Dabholkar (not out) 0.
Extras: (lb1) 1. Total (in 38.1 overs) 129
FoW: 1-0, 2-10, 3-25, 4-25, 5-29, 6-77, 7-88, 8-100, 9-115.
Bowling: Mundhe 10-1-26-3, Fallah 14.1-3-45-3, Sanklecha 14-3-57-4.
Maharashtra (2nd innings): H. Khadiwale (batting) 6, C. Khurana c Jaffer b Zaheer 17. Extras (nb1, lb4) 5. Total (for one wicket in 8.4 overs) 28.
FoW: 1-28.
Bowling: Z. Khan 4.4-2-5-1, Thakur 4-1-19-0.