The first 30 overs of the day in Kolkata were like a sequel to a horror movie for Mumbai. On a hazy morning on a pitch that had seam and swing, their star-studded line-up crumbled against a fairly inexperienced pace attack of Haryana.
Their first four dismissals were all bowled – Ayush Mhatre first ball, Akash Anand leaving one outside off, and Siddhesh Lad (4) and Suryakumar Yadav (9) beaten by incoming deliveries. Rahane (31) and Shivam Dube (28) stemmed the collapse briefly but they edged the ball behind off the pace bowlers and Mumbai were reeling at 113 for 7 when Shardul Thakur fell for 15.
It was a familiar story for Mumbai, collapsing against the new ball – like they had against J&K – and the story continued when their lower order rescued them yet again. Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian patiently played out the pace bowlers who were finishing their second or third spells, and even started to play their shots against the spinners to score at over three an over. Against the old ball, they hardly had any troubles against the Haryana attack and stitched a massive stand of 165 that was broken just before stumps when Mulani handed a return catch to Jayant Yadav. It would have been his second century of the format, but he will be proud of his 19th half-century nevertheless. Kotian is still unbeaten on 85, his 15th half-century, and Mumbai will be pleased they weren’t bowled out after those early stutters.
Chintan Gaja takes four, Saurashtra 216 all out
Unlike Mumbai, Saurashtra started the day well and were going steady at 127 for 2, with a half-century for opener Chirag Jani. They, contrastingly, lost wickets to the pace bowlers when the ball got slightly older and slipped to 148 for 6 and then 177 for 7.
Once a scratchy Cheteshwar Pujara (26) handed the simplest of catches to cover off left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, Gaja and Jaymeet Patel joined hands to stifle the batters outside off with some extra bounce that induced edges for the keeper, slips and gully. Gaja finished with 4 for 48 as Arpit Vasavada steered Saurashtra past 200 with an unbeaten 39. Gujarat are 21 for 0 in reply.
Karun Nair smashes another century
Vidarbha’s Karun Nair continued his rich vein of form across formats with a century against Tamil Nadu in Nagpur. It’s Nair’s sixth century in nine games (including this one), after his five centuries in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy that fetched him an average of 389.50 in the tournament.
On Saturday, he chaperoned Vidarbha after the Tamil Nadu quicks made early inroads. Danish Malewar started the charge with a brisk 75 that put on 98 runs for the fourth wicket with Nair. But once Malewar miscued Vijay Shankar to be dismissed, it was Nair’s day all along. He swept the left-arm spinners from around the wicket confidently with hard hands, struck a six down the ground off Sai Kishore, and patiently reached his century just before stumps to place Vidarbha on a decent score of 264 for 6.
Nidheesh’s five-for troubles J&K
J&K’s progress was the slowest of the day, against Kerala in Pune. The star of the day from Kerala was fast bowler MD Nidheesh, who removed J&K’s top order on his own. He swung the ball close to the stumps and persisted with the line outside off that fetched him rewards, even when the ball got older. When Basil Thampi’s inswinger removed the experienced captain Paras Dogra, J&K were in trouble at 67 for 4 before they were steadied by the lower order of wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan (48), Sahil Lotra (35) and Lone Nasir (44).
They ended the day on 228 for 8 with Nidheesh’s figures reading 5 for 56.
