Musheer's all-round show keeps Mumbai in control
Mumbai, Oct. 28 -- Mumbai failed to fully capitalise on the batting efforts of centurions Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Musheer Khan on a slow burn of a second day in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group D tie against Haryana on Tuesday. The hosts, resuming on their overnight score of 290/3, were bowled out for 430. Haryana in reply were 108/2 at stumps after Musheer took both the wickets with his left-arm spin, making him the standout performer with bat and ball.
However, there's still plenty of work to do for the visitors as the ball is beginning to take spin on the red-soil surface at the Sharad Pawar Academy ground.
Mumbai skipper Siddhesh Lad fell early in the morning session to pacer Aman Kumar for 33, his first low score of the season. Soon after, Sarfaraz Khan (40) was trapped lbw by Nishant Sindhu. For once, Mumbai's lower-middle order couldn't inflict too much pain on the Haryana bowlers as the innings was wrapped up mid-way through the day's proceedings. Tanush Kotian at No.8 struck a half century (52-96b, 4x4), which could prove to be crucial if the off-spinner can back it up with wickets.
All but nine of the 39 overs were bowled by Mumbai spinners with the pitch beginning to break up enough to keep them in the business. Kotian and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani were persistent, but Haryana openers Ankit Kumar and Himanshu Rana denied them. However, Mumbai had strong spin back-up in Musheer who turned the screws by quickly getting among the wickets.
Musheer knows he would have to bide his time with the ball at Ranji level. On most days, he plays the support cast to the seasoned Kotian and Mulani. When they find wickets hard to come by, he is quick to pounce on the opportunity. "When I get the ball in my hand, I become a proper bowler," he said.
The stock ball of Musheer (109-185b, 12x4, 1x6) was enough to cause early jitters in the Haryana dressing room.
Ayush Badoni joined Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir in the elite list of batters scoring a double hundred in back-to-back first-class innings, while putting Delhi in command against hosts Jharkhand in their Group C game.
Brief scores (select matches): In Mumbai: Mumbai 430 (Tanush Kotian 52*; Samant Jakhar 3/41) vs Haryana 108/2. In Chandigarh: Chandigarh 685/5d (Nehal Pajni 222, Arjun Azad 146) vs HP 49/0. In Dehradun: Rajasthan 272 & 39/1 vs Uttarakhand 194 (Kukna Ajay Singh 5/66). In Vadodara: Baroda 616 (Priyanshu Moliya 321*, Mahesh Pithiya 102; Sahil Lotra 4/160) vs J&K 6/0.
In Nagpur: Goa 220 (Yash Kasvankar 63*; Nachiket Bhute 5/48) vs Vidarbha 217/3 (Ravikumar Samarth 53).
In Mysuru: Tripura 197 vs Karnataka 297/7 (Karun Nair 63, Rohan Patil 72, KV Aneesh 68).
In Rajkot: Assam 281 vs Saurashtra 156/4 (Hetvik Kotak 65 batting, Ravindra Jadeja 21).
In Ranchi: Delhi 515/5d (Ayush Badoni 210*, Sumit Mathur 150*) vs Jharkhand 131/4. In Pune: Gujarat 223 vs Maharashtra 278/9 (Saurabh Nawale 95)....
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