IRANI CUP | Mumbai recovers after Mukesh’s early strikes

Intense opening day's play in Irani Cup tie with early strikes, solid fifties, sensational catches, and brainfade moments.

A delayed start. Early strikes by pacers in friendly conditions. A veteran holding on to one end and two established stars being more aggressive around him. A sensational catch. And a brain-fade moment too! All of it culminating in an intense opening day’s play. That’s the summary of the first day’s play of the Irani Cup tie at the Bharat Ratna Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium here on Tuesday.

Mukesh Kumar justified Rest of India captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s decision to insert Mumbai in with three strikes. But solid fifties by Shreyas Iyer (57, 84b, 6x4, 2x6), Ajinkya Rahane (86*, 197b, 6x4, 1x6) and Sarfaraz Khan (54*, 88b, 6x4) — with the captain leading from the front — meant Mumbai recovered to end the day at 237 for four.

Considering the new ball will be available soon after the early moisture on the pitch — that delayed the toss by an hour and start of play by 45 minutes on Tuesday — evaporates on the second morning, Rest of India will hope to strike early.

Mukesh and Yash hit their stride right away, with the former being rewarded twice in his second over. Prithvi Shaw chased one outside off only to find Devdutt Padikkal plucking a sensational catch, lunging to his right at second slip at full stretch. Hardik Tamore decided against seeking a referral after playing close to his bat and pad to a full delivery and was adjudged caught-behind.

Ayush Mhatre — the teenaged debutant — and Rahane then avoided further damage. Just when Mhatre was growing in confidence, Mukesh changed ends and the first short ball of the morning resulted in a miscued pull. At 37 for three, in walked Shreyas and was at his aggressive best.

Shreyas’ sliced six off Mukesh and the trademark lofted four behind the bowler were among highlights of the day’s play. He even ducked when Prasidh Krishna bowled a quick, short one when he was on 49. But just after completing his fifty, a lapse in concentration resulted in Shreyas offering a dolly to Ruturaj at covers.

While Rahane was back to his solid batting after a mediocre Ranji season, Sarfaraz found his silken touch, especially against the spinners. The duel between Sarfaraz and Yash Dayal — both having been released from India’s squad the evening earlier — was intense in the last session.