Saurasthra crumbled against Mumbai, after being inserted in to bat, in the first innings on Day 1 of the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy final. Thanks to Mumbai medium pacer, Dhawal Kulkarni, the visitors were skittled out for 148 at the Wankhede Stadium. At the end of the day, Mumbai had scored 19 runs with both their openers still at the crease. At stumps, Mumbai trailed Saurashtra by 129 runs with all 10 wickets standing.
The nervousness was palpable and Dhawal Kulkarni did his best to exploit it, by scalping three of the top four Saurashtra batsmen. Sagar Jogiyani (1) was put out of his shortlived misery, after he fell while fishing outside off. Meanwhile, Rahul Dave (3) was done in by a sharp bouncer.
Sitanshu Kotak spoke of this game as the biggest match of his career. But perhaps, it was the enormity of the occasion that got to him or it was just a bad day for the veteran cricketer. Trying to chase a wide one from left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar, he edged a catch to Wasim Jaffer at slip.
Kulkarni continued to beat the batsmen and induce edges. The Saurashtra batsmen never looked at ease against him. Sure enough, the gangly medium pacer returned to dismiss the in-form Sheldon Jackson – who had scored a century each in the quarters and semis – caught behind.
With a wicket in the very next over, Dabholkar ensured the visitors went into lunch at a paltry 51/5.
During the back and forth pitch-to-pavillion procession that was Saurashtra’s first innings, the only man to show some grit was Aarpit Vasavada (55). Coming in after the fall of three early wickets, Vasavada dug in for 146 balls to score his team’s first and only half-century.
Vasavada’s vigil was cut short by Mumbai’s man with a golden arm, Abhishek Nayar. A back-of-a-length delivery surprised Vasavada who only managed to edge it to the wicketkeeper. The score was 114 when he got out and his team folded after adding just 34 more runs.
Kulkarni finished with four wickets in 21.1 overs, which included 13 maiden overs. Nayar and Dabholkar scalped two wickets each, while skipper Ajit Agarkar picked one.
Brief Scores:
Day 1: Saurashtra 1st innings - 148 all out (Vasavada 55; Kulkarni 4/24, Dabholkar 2/14, Nayar 2/30); Mumbai 1st innings – 19/0 (Jaffar 11, Pawar 4)
