Ranji Trophy | It was a challenging wicket to bowl: Mumbai’s Mohit Avasthi

Mumbai's Mohit Avasthi's game-changing spell of five for nine triggers a spectacular collapse as Kerala crumbles.

St.Xavier’s cricket ground has traditionally been a spinner’s heaven but occasionally, the venue has witnessed fine spells from the faster bowlers. After Avesh Khan’s hostile spell against Kerala in the 2017-18 season, there hasn’t been an eye-catching spell from the pacers until Mumbai’s Mohit Avasthi made the ball talk on Saturday evening.

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Mohit’s game-changing spell of five for nine from 17 deliveries triggered a spectacular collapse as Kerala crumbled from 221 for four to 244 all out. Mohit finished with fine figures of seven for 57 which was his second five-wicket haul this season. The pacer had picked up six wickets against Bihar in the first match of the season.

Mohit’s wickets with the new and old ball have been one of the reasons for Mumbai’s dominant show this season. 

“It was pretty challenging to bowl on this wicket. It was a flat deck and there wasn’t any help so I was basically looking to bowl stump-to-stump. I kept visualising and targeted the off stump to engage the batters and they made mistakes.

“It is my best figures in Ranji Trophy but I rate my performance against Bihar better. As it was the first match of the season I desperately wanted to do well and the team also wanted such a performance for me. I am working on improving my bowling and there is still a lot of work to be done,’‘ he said.

Mohit has also made telling contributions with the bat this season, scoring a fifty against Andhra and making useful scores in the match against Kerala as well