Captain Rahane, Jaiswal slam tons as hosts pile up 457 for 3
MUMBAI: Have Mumbai too taken a liking to 'Bazball?' Going by the way they took a clueless-looking Hyderabad to the cleaners on Day One of their Ranji Trophy Group B second round match against Hyderabad at the MCA's ground in BKC, that does seem to be the case.
Powered by blazing centuries by the in-form opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (162, 195b, 27x4, 1x6), skipper Ajinkya Rahane — who scored his third First-Class ton (139 not out, 190b, 18x4, 2x6) in two years since his 112 at the MCG against Australia in the 2020 Boxing Day Test — and a typically strokeful 90 (80b, 15x4, 1x6) by Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai romped to 457 for three in 90 overs. It is perhaps the highest score in the history of the Ranji Trophy after a team has been asked to bat first on Day 1.
Maintaining a run rate of more than 5 an over as their batsmen went berserk, smashing 70 fours and four sixes, Mumbai bared their fearsome batting teeth, proving that Hyderabad's decision to ask them to bat first on a batting paradise was a terrible mistake.
With Sarfaraz Khan (40not out, 55b, 6x4) joining in the fun, opener Prithvi Shaw (19, 21b, 4x4), who's currently going through a lean patch, was the only one to miss out, as he was caught behind after starting off well.
"I think that the wicket was very good (to bat on). The outfield is so good that once the ball hits the gaps, it goes for a four. So, I was just trying to time the ball well," Jaiswal said later.
It was Yadav who, batting like a dream, began the carnage — unleashing his trademark drives, punches off the backfoot, late cuts and flicks to all parts of the ground — during his entertaining 153run stand for the second wicket in just 171 balls with Jaiswal.
With 'Sky' going great guns, Jaiswal wisely chose to drop anchor and enjoy the show from the other end. Mumbai raced away to 169 for one at lunch and it meant that Hyderabad were already looking as if they'd want to be somewhere else than on a cricket field.
Trapped lbw eighth ball just after lunch, Yadav — who came in place of last match's centurion Armaan Jaffer — was unlucky to miss out on a hundred, and perhaps more that was on offer.
It wasn't the end of Hyderabad's troubles by any means as Rahane played the most fluent, aggressive innings of his First-Class career in a long, long time, even as Jaiswal chose to take the attacker's mantle now. Both matched each other stroke for stroke during their epic 206run stand for the third wicket in just 229 balls.
Driving, sweeping the ball superbly and punishing any width on offer-Jaiswal in particular thrived on the cut shot -the duo kept sending the ball to the boundary with monotonous regularity.
