Ranji Trophy : Herwadkar century propels Mumbai

Cricket Ranji Trophy quarters : Nayar's men reach 303/6 at stumps on day one

Mumbai rode on Akhil Herwadkar’s ton and a half-century by Suryakumar Yadav to post a decent 303 for six at close of play on day one of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash against Jharkhand here at the SDNRW Stadium on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, Mumbai lost opener Jay Bista (9) early but the other opening batsman Herwadkar joined hands with Shreyas Iyer, who scored a brisk 45, to put on a solid 70-run stand and bail the team out of trouble.

Even after Iyer’s dismissal, Herwadkar continued to score at a fair clip and in the able company of Yadav, took Mumbai’s score past 200-run mark. The two shared a crucial 136-run partnership for the third wicket.

Yadav scored 75 off just 70 deliveries that included nine fours and two sixes while Herwadkar played a patient knock of 107 that came off 217 balls with 12 hits to the fence.

But Yadav’s dismissal triggered a mini collapse and Mumbai suddenly lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. From 227 for two at one stage, Mumbai were reduced to 303 for six at stumps.

For Jharkhand, pacer Jaskaran Singh (2/57) and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (2/96) picked up two wickets each.

MP recover

In Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh recovered from the loss of two cheap wickets to score 254 for four at stumps against Bengal at the Brabourne Stadium.

Half centuries from opener Aditya Shrivastava (65), Naman Ojha (64) and no six Harpreet Singh Bhatia (51 batting) and an unconquered 42 from experienced campaigner and skipper Devendra Bundela pulled the MP innings around after they were struggling at 39 for two.

A century partnership of 102 for the third wicket between Shrivastava and Ojha steadied the innings and then an unbeaten stand of 92 between Bundela and Bhatia consolidated MP’s position after they were asked to bat first by Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary on a track with a tinge of green on it.

Unadkat rattles Vidarbha

At Vizianagaram, Saurashtra took firm control as India discard Jaydev Unadkat grabbed a five-wicket haul to skittle out Vidarbha for a paltry 151.

After Unadkat’s five for 70 saw Subramanium Badrinath’s side being bowled out in just 50.4 overs, Saurashtra batted cautiously to end the day at 70 for one in 30 overs.

Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara looked in good touch as he remained unbeaten on 45 from 71 balls with nine boundaries to his credit.

At Valsad, Punjab bowlers produced a disciplined performance with pacer Siddharth Kaul (4/81) leading the way with a four-wicket haul as they restricted Assam to 233 for eight at stumps on the first day.

At stumps, former Royal Challengers Bangalore player J Syed Mohammed was batting on 50 scored off 142 balls with six boundaries to his credit.

Brief scores: At Vizianagaram, Vidarbha: 151 all out in 50.4 overs (Wasim Jaffer 41, Umesh Yadav 25; Jaydev Unadkat 5-70, Hardik Rathod 2-28, Chirag Jani 2-29) vs Saurashtra: 70/1 in 30 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 45 batting).

At Mysuru: Mumbai: 303/6 in 90 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 107, Shreyas Iyer 45, Suryakumar Yadav 75, Abhishek Nayar 25 batting; Jaskaran Singh 2-57, Shahbaz Nadeem 2-96) vs Jharkhand.

At Mumbai: Madhya Pradesh: 254/4 in 87 overs (Aditya Shrivastava 65, Naman Ojha 64, Devendra Bundela 42 batting, Harpreet Singh 51 batting; Veer Pratap Singh 2-55) vs Bengal.
At Valsad: Assam: 223/8 in 88 overs (Pallavkumar Das 46, Amit Verma 42, J Syed Mohammad 50 batting; Siddarth Kaul 4-81, Barinder Sran 2-67) vs Punjab.