Mumbai stay in contention; Jaffer first to reach 11k runs
Belagavi:arch-rivals Karnataka and Mumbai were in a close fight for the first innings honours in their Group A Ranji Trophy game on Wednesday.
Mumbai did well to restrict the hosts to 400 all out, built mainly around rookie Krishnamurthy Siddharth’s anchoring 161 after Karnataka resumed at their overnight 263 for 4.
Shreyas Gopal (48), too played a handy knock besides valuable contribution from Jagadeesha Suchith (30) and Abhimanyu Mithun (34) lower down the order. Shivam Dubey ended up with a highly creditable sevenwicket haul for 63 runs.
In reply, Mumbai made 99 for the loss of two wickets by stumps on day two, still 301 runs behind, with Jay Bista cracking an unbeaten 69.
Mumbai lost opener Akhil Herwadkar (5) early but his partner Bista hit 11 fours to remain unbeaten after facing 111 balls.
Ashay Sardesai fell in what proved to be the last ball of the day after he was caught behind off Ronit More. Sardesai had played a patient 60-ball 23 but failed to see off the day for Mumbai.
In Nagpur, Wasim Jaffer (153), skipper Faiz Fazal (151) and wicket-keeper batsman Akshay Wadkar (102*) steered reigning champions Vidarbha to a massive 529 for six declared against Baroda who replied with 41 for no loss.
In Raipur, Chhattisgarh managed to restrict Railways to 132 for 4 after putting on 300 in their first innings.
RUN-MACHINE JAFFER TOUCHES NEW HIGH
NAGPUR: Wasim Jaffer also became the first batsman to amass 11,000 runs in the tournament’s history. Jaffer went on to score 153 off 284 balls, thus notching up his 54th first-class ton.
Jaffer had played 31 Tests and two ODIS for India.