Bengaluru: After the first session of the opening day of Ranji Trophy final went to Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh bounced back in the second session by picking three wickets to reduce the 41-time champions to 201/4 in 64 overs at tea. For Mumbai, Yashasvi Jaiswal made a fine 78 before falling to Anubhav Agarwal.
Resuming from 103/1 after lunch, Mumbai lost their second wicket when Armaan Jaffer got a thick inner edge on a drive off a slower ball from Kumar Kartikeya Singh and was snapped by a diving short mid-wicket. After Jaiswal reached his fifty with a single through mid-wicket, Suved Parkar slammed a brace of boundaries before playing the flick too early and leading edge popped to mid-wicket off Saransh Jain.
But Jaiswal had no such issues, hitting Gaurav Yadav for three boundaries — driving with full face of the bat, outside edge running past gully and cutting over gully. He was elegant while using his feet to cream Kartikeya through extra cover. But for the third time in the session, Mumbai lost a wicket against run of play as Jaiswal went for an expansive drive, only for it to fly towards gully.
With the in-form Sarfaraz Khan still at the crease for Mumbai after surviving a close lbw shout off Gaurav Yadav and Hardik Tamore striking a brace of boundaries, Mumbai can still feel hopeful about getting a competitive score but they will be wary of Madhya Pradesh taking out another wicket or two quickly.
Earlier, Jaiswal was the initial aggressor, dancing down the pitch to hit Kartikeya for a six over mid-on. When Kartikeya again bowled short, Jaiswal hanged back in his crease and cut sweetly through backward point for four.
After almost being run-out due to a huge mix-up, Jaiswal continued to get forward and drive Gaurav as well as Saransh through the off-side. Prithvi Shaw, despite fetching some boundaries, was struggling to adjust to the bounce and deviation off the pitch against Gaurav.
Against spinners, especially Kartikeya, who wasn’t getting much help from the pitch, Shaw used his feet to slam a lofted six over long-off and follow it up with a boundary coming off a beautiful straight drive in his first over of facing spin.
But him being troubled against movement from pacers eventually caused his downfall as Anubhav breached through his defence to rattle his off-stump, with Shaw falling for 47. Armaan continued his good nick with a lovely punch-drive off Agarwal, presenting the full face of the bat and brought up Mumbai’s hundred when a thick outer edge on defence going past gully.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 201/4 in 64 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 78, Prithvi Shaw 47; Anubhav Agarwal 2/47) against Madhya Pradesh.
(IANS)
