Mumbai call shots on day one

Jadeja, Munaf lead Rest recovery with gutsy knocks

Rest of India were in for an early shock as India discard Ajit Agarkar (3/45) removed rival captain Virender Sehwag (10) in the fifth over and then ended the 69-run stand between Murli Vijay (17) and Abhinav Mukund (47) by castling the latter to unhinge the side.

Down the order, Jadeja waged a grim battle and top-scored with a 121-ball 77 and things could have been worse for Rest of India had Munaf Patel not come up with some powerful blows during his 34-ball 36 before he ran out of partners.

In reply, Mumbai were 38 without loss at stumps with Sahil Kukreja (11) and old warhorse Wasim Jaffer (24) seeing off the final eight overs.

All eyes were on Sehwag, who is returning to competitive cricket after a shoulder surgery, but the star opener fell to Agarkar early in the innings.

Vijay and Mukund stemmed the rot but once Agarkar broke their stand, Rest of India witnessed a middle order collapse.

Dhawal Kulkarni ended Vijay’s long vigil at the crease after the batsman struggled his way to 17 after facing 76 balls. Jadeja, however, stood tall amid ruins and played sensibly.

With S Badrinath (13), Manoj Tiwary (9) and Wriddhiman Saha (4) perishing in quick succession, Jadeja took the responsibility on his shoulder to lift the side which had lost its top half by the time they reached 121.

The left-hander showed tremendous grit under pressure and found an able partner in Munaf. The duo added 65 runs to take the side past the 250-mark before Jadeja returned.

Jadeja’s gritty knock included nine hits to the fence while Munaf’s unbeaten cameo was studded with three fours and a couple of sixes. For Mumbai, Kulkarni (2/33) and Ramesh Powar (2/58) were also among the wickets.

Score board

Rest of India (I Innings): Murali Vijay c Naik b Kulkarni 17, Virender Sehwag b Agarkar 10, Abhinav Mukund b Agarkar 47, Subramaniam Badrinath lbw Shaikh 13, Manoj Tiwary lbw Kulkarni 9, Ravindra Jadeja c Samant b Sharma 77, Wriddhiman Saha c Naik b Powar 4, S Sreesanth c Samant b Abdulla 16, Pragyan Ojha c Sharma b Powar 1, Munaf Patel (not out) 36, Sudip Tyagi b Agarkar 6. Extras (B-4, lb-11, W-5, nb-4) 24. Total (all out in 76.3 overs) 260.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-80, 3-84, 4-102, 5-121, 6-141, 7-175, 8-188, 9-253.
Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 17.3-6-45-3, Dhawal Kulkarni 17-6-33-2, Ramesh Powar 17-0-58-2, Rahil Shaikh 14-1-57-1, Iqbal Abdulla 9-0-45-1, Rohit Sharma 2-0-7-1.
Mumbai (I Innings): Sahil Kukreja (batting) 11, Wasim Jaffer (batting) 24. Extras (nb-3) 3. Total (for no loss in 8 overs) 38.
Bowling: S Sreesanth 3-1-5-0, Munaf Patel 4-0-22-0, Sudip Tyagi 1-0-11-0.