India Test batter Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 118 (15×4, retired hurt) helped Mumbai post 251-5 against Chhattisgarh on Day One of their Elite Group ‘D’ Ranji Trophy match at the MCA-BKC ground on Saturday. The Mumbai versus Chhattisgarh Ranji match began on time despite heavy overnight rains. Rahane, who was unbeaten on 54 at lunch, reached his half-century with an upper cut to the boundary off pacer Sourabh Majumdar, and registered his first hundred of the season with a late cut off left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal (1-55).
No. 5 batter Siddhesh Lad (80, 13×4), who missed out on his second successive century after his 116 against Jammu & Kashmir, felt Rahane was in a different zone. “When he [Rahane] went in to bat, he was in a totally different zone; like he wanted to do something. Even while running between the wickets, it looked like he will play a big knock. We were [struggling] at 38-3 and there was a need for a senior player [to bat] and he did.
From the very first ball he faced, it looked like the old Ajinkya Rahane is playing with that grit, determination and khadoos Mumbai attitude,” Lad, who completed 5000 first-class runs on Saturday, told reporters.
Rahane and Lad batted for nearly five hours, but the tea break gave the visitors some time to rethink and they were rewarded soon. Mandal broke the 165-run fourth-wicket partnership between Rahane and Lad, dismissing the latter in the third over after tea. In the very next over, veteran left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (2-65) dismissed India batter Sarfaraz Khan (1), offering a catch to mid-on fielder Shashank Singh.
Mumbai were struggling at 61-2 and 22-2 in both their innings against J&K in Srinagar. At home too, Mumbai’s opening worries continued with Musheer Khan (12) falling to Sarwate in the ninth over. The hosts were reduced to 36-2 when pacer Ravi Kiran (2-22) trapped Angkrish Raghuvanshi (9) LBW. The move to send Himanshu Singh (0) at No. 4 backfired as Kiran claimed his second wicket in the 14th over. After Sarfaraz’s departure, Shams Mulani (25 not out) gave Rahane the much-needed company.