Chhattisgarh, who lost to Rajasthan by nine wickets in their Ranji Trophy opener, deprived Mumbai from getting their second successive outright win of the season on Tuesday thanks to a grinding century scored by opener Ayush Pandey (117 not out, 17×4, 1×6).
Pandey’s fighting knock and rain interruptions ensured the Elite Group ‘D’ game at the MCA-BKC ground ended in a draw on Tuesday with Mumbai picking up three points by virtue of the first innings lead and Chhattisgarh opening their account with one point.
With Mumbai taking a 199-run first-innings lead, skipper Shardul Thakur enforced the follow-on with the hope of an outright win that would earn them six points. Young off-spinner Himanshu Singh (1-65) gave Mumbai their first break, trapping opener Shashank Chandrakar (11) LBW in the innings 12th over. Left-arm spinners Musheer Khan and Shams Mulani also picked up a wicket each, but couldn’t make further in-roads as Chhattisgarh posted 201-3 at close of play.
Mulani took 5-59 in the first innings while Himanshu picked up 3-42. “The pitch was slow, so it wasn’t easy to get wickets. We bowled well in the first innings and that’s why the spinners got wickets, but in the second innings, they [Chhattisgarh] planned well and eventually, our bowlers got tired. It’s not easy to win a match outright in just four to four-and-a-half sessions. If this game was not rain-affected, I’m sure we would’ve got the six points,” Mumbai skipper Shardul Thakur told reporters after the match on Tuesday.
Thakur also gave credit to Pandey for his knock: “He [Pandey] batted well today [Tuesday], given the conditions, the pitch and also [the fact that he was] trying to save the game for his team.”
Mumbai’s three pacers – Thakur, Tushar Deshpande and Irfan Umair bowled 21 overs together, but went wicketless in the game. Thakur didn’t bowl in the second essay. “In the second innings there was almost no help for the pacers. We tried Irfan for six overs, but it was mainly to create a rough [patch] for Himanshu,” Thakur explained.
Chhattisgarh’s young batter Pandey, 22, who made 50 in the first innings and scored his third first-class century in the second, felt it was a tough wicket to bat on. “The wicket was difficult to bat on, but we had the belief that we will not repeat our mistakes from the first innings,” said Pandey.
Brief scores
Mumbai 416 vs Chhattisgarh 217 (A Pandey 50, S Chandrakar 43; S Mulani 5-59, H Singh 3-42, M Khan 2-38) & 201-3 (A Pandey 117*)