Ranji Trophy: Mumbai vs Bengal, Day 3
First Published : 03 Dec 2012, 18:03
Last Modified : 04 Dec 2012, 10:55
Mumbai, Dec 3: Chasing 391 against Mumbai, Bengal were trailing by 344 runs when stumps were called at the end of the third day of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2012-13 match. Bengal were 47/0 when play ended at the Brabourne Stadium today.
After Hiken Shah (118) and Abhishek Nayar (73*) propelled Mumbai to 294 for the loss of five wickets with a 158-run partnership, the hosts declared their second innings in the final session of the day to push for an outright win. Shah who has been in sublime touch this season scored his third century in three matches when he reached the three-figure mark here.
Earlier, resuming their innings on six for no loss on the penultimate day of the match, Mumbai lost three wickets in the morning session. Bowled by Shami Ahmed, Wasim Jaffer was the first to return to the dressing room for 19. Hiken Shah then joined Kaustubh Pawar in the middle and the duo added 40 runs for the second wicket, before Abhishek Jhunjhunwala struck to send back the latter. Caught at mid-wicket by Manoj Tiwary, the Mumbai opener was sent back for 31. Rohit Sharma who then replaced him at the crease got a reprieve off the very first delivery he faced. A difficult chance at first slip gave the Mumbai captain a life off Jhunjhunwala. However, the lapse didn’t prove to be too expensive for the visitors as Sharma lost his leg-stump to Laxmi Ratan Shukla on the last ball before lunch and departed for 14. With Shah on 43, Mumbai went in to lunch on 113 for three.
Abhishek Nayar then walked out to bat with Shah in the second session. After Shah brought up his half-century soon after lunch, the duo also took Mumbai past 200. With the field pushed back, the batsmen worked the ball around picking singles and twos to build on the lead. Later in the session, Nayar pulled Veer Pratap Singh for a flat six to reach his second fifty of the match and take the partnership to 100. On his way to the half-century the middle-order batsman had also struck three boundaries including a straight drive off Shukla earlier in his innings.
Keeping their wickets intact, Shah and Nayar had extended the home team’s lead to 328 when tea was called. Although he got out for naught in the first innings, Shah who has been good form in the tournament was three runs short of his century when the session ended.
The No.3 bat brought up his ton with a reverse sweep for four off Jhunjhunwala post tea. Shah who had earlier scored 140 and 156 against Rajasthan and Hyderabad respectively in away matches got to his century off 193 balls with 13 boundaries. However, a while later, caught at mid-on off Shami Ahmed, Shah’s diligent knock was ended in 209 balls. Singh then followed up with the wicket of Aditya Tare for 19. With Nayar unbeaten on 73, Mumbai declared their innings with a 390-run lead, after the fall of fifth wicket.
Rohan Banerjee and Arindam Das then came out to chase the challenging target. Although Sharma opened the bowling with pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Aavishkar Salvi, he soon attacked with spinners from both ends to exploit the conditions in an effort to take wickets. However, Bengal still have all their wickets intact and need another 344 runs for an outright win.
Brief scores:
At the end of Day 3: Mumbai 2nd innings 294/5 in 74.4 overs (H Shah 118, A Nayar 73*, Shami Ahmed 2/39); Bengal 2nd innings 47/0 in 16 overs (R Banerjee 23*, A Das 19*)
At the end of Day 2: Mumbai 1st innings 297 all out in 105.1 overs (D Kulkarni 37, LR Shukla 5/38, I Saxena 4/105); Bengal 1st innings 201 all out in 65.4 overs (Arindam Das 98*, A Chavan 4/ 61, K Waingankar 2/16); Mumbai 2nd innings 6/0 in 3 overs
At the end of Day 1: Mumbai 1st innings 262/7 in 90 overs (W Jaffer 80, A Nayar 62, L R Shukla 4/35)
