Bista makes a point with ton
Recalled opener hits 104; half-centuries by Herwadkar, Iyer, Yadav help Mumbai reach 386/3
MUMBAI: Jay Bista slammed his maiden first class century while Akhil Herwadkar (90), Shreyas Iyer (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (88*) scored half-centuries to give Mumbai a good start against the Rest of India side in the Irani Cup encounter at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. At the end of day’s play, Mumbai were batting on 386/3.
Coming into the match, Bista had a point to prove as he was dropped from the Mumbai squad for the Ranji Trophy semifinals and final after a below-par performance in the quarterfinal against Jharkhand where he scored nine and 14 runs.
On Sunday though, the 20-year-old went about proving just why he was called ‘the future of Mumbai cricket’ by his skipper Aditya Tare, dominating the ROI bowling to get to triple figures in just 82 balls. By the time he finally fell for 104 runs off a Krishna Das delivery that came in sharply and caught him plumb in front of the middle stump, he had slammed 15 boundaries and a massive six off Jayant Yadav’s bowling straight over the bowler’s head.
“It was satisfying knock as I needed to prove myself. Having said that, I’m a little bit disappointed as I missed the opportunity to play a big innings. But a hundred is a hundred,” Bista said after the day’s play.
DEPLETED ROI
Missing the services of bowlers like Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh due to injury, ROI selected the pace trio of Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat (0-66), Assam’s Das (1-111) and Uttar Pradesh’s Ankit Rajpoot (1-73). All three bowlers were carted for runs in the first session with Bista and Herwadkar stitching a partnership of 193 runs for the first wicket.
Bista added that his knocks for the U-23 Mumbai side in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy had given him immense confidence coming into the Irani Cup. Bista, who replaced Bhavin Thakkar in the Mumbai team for the Irani Cup, had scored 217 in the CK Nayudu final against Madhya Pradesh and 44 and 128 in the quarterfinal against Baroda.
“When I went back to U-23 squad, I scored a hundred against Baroda in the second innings in a very challenging situation. That innings gave me lot of satisfaction and confidence that I can play well in such a challenging situation. In the final also, on the first day it was very challenging to play on a very green wicket. I scored double century there too. These innings gave me confidence that I can play well anywhere,” Bista added.