Much to his relief, Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who had been struggling badly this season, finally found a semblance of his form, scoring an unbeaten 56 (124b, 6×4, 1×6) on the fourth and final day as Mumbai drew their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Chhattisgarh at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. Thanks to gaining a first innings lead, Mumbai earned three points out of the tie, and they now have 30 points after six games, which means that the 41-time champions have qualified for the Ranji Trophy knockouts after crashing out at the league stage of the tournament last season.
Topping Elite Group B, Mumbai will now aim to finish with most points across all the groups by beating Assam in their last match at home at BKC, which will enable them to play the winner of the Plate Group final between Hyderabad and Meghalaya, rather than take on an elite group team, in the quarterfinals.Presently, they are No 1 in terms of points in the kitty across all.
Rahane was out for just one in the first innings, and had scored just 33 runs in three Ranji Trophy games coming into this match. On Monday, though, he shrugged off his poor run to some extent. Mumbai, resuming at 97 for one, had slipped to 182 for five at one point, before Rahane added 66 for the sixth wicket with all-rounder Shardul Thakur (31, 59b, 2×4). Mumbai were 253 for six in their second innings before both the team’s captains shook each other’s hands.
Mumbai were initially given some jitters by left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal, who took five for 65 in 31 overs. Following up on his first innings century, Mumbai opener Bhupen Lalwani scored a half-century (59, 144b, 6×4). Mandal took the wickets of Lalwani, debutant Amogh Bhatkal (24), Suryansh Shedge (26), ‘keeper-bat Hardik Tamore (0) and Thakur.
U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy: Ankolekar takes 7-20 as Mumbai-Bengal tie ends inside two days
On an unusually raging turner at the Wankhede Stadium which saw 40 wickets fall inside two days, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar took seven for 20 as Mumbai prised out Bengal for 46 in the final innings to score a 175-run win on Day Two of their Col CK Nayudu Trophy (for Under-23) match. On a pitch which certainly seems poor in terms of quality, all Bengal could manage was scores was 78 in their first innings, with Ankolekar taking four for 24. Ankolekar thus finished with incredible match figures of 11 for 44, while his fellow left-arm spinner Atharva Bhosale took seven for 72 (4-32 & 3-20). While 21 wickets fell on Day One, 19 fell on Day Two.
On Monday, after they bowled Mumbai out for 175 in the second innings, Bengal were left chasing 222, but collapsed badly. Continuing his good form, opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi (45, 65b, 7×4) top-scored for Mumbai.
On Sunday, bouncing back superbly after being skittled out for just 124, Mumbai shot out Bengal for merely 78 to take the first innings lead. Ankolekar (4-24), who had earlier top-scored for the hosts with 37, and Bhosale ran through the Bengal batting. Earlier, Dilshad Khan took six for 31 (overall nine for 91 in the match) for Bengal to wreck Mumbai.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 124 (Atharva Ankolekar 37; Dilshad Khan 6-31) & 175 (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 45, Sourabh Singh 30; Vaibhav Yadav 6-61, Dishad Khan 3-60) beat Bengal 78 (Atharva Ankolekar 4-24, Atharva Bhosale 4-32) & 46 (Atharva Ankolekar 7-20, Atharva Bhosale 3-20) by 175 runs.
Topping Elite Group B, Mumbai will now aim to finish with most points across all the groups by beating Assam in their last match at home at BKC, which will enable them to play the winner of the Plate Group final between Hyderabad and Meghalaya, rather than take on an elite group team, in the quarterfinals.Presently, they are No 1 in terms of points in the kitty across all.
Rahane was out for just one in the first innings, and had scored just 33 runs in three Ranji Trophy games coming into this match. On Monday, though, he shrugged off his poor run to some extent. Mumbai, resuming at 97 for one, had slipped to 182 for five at one point, before Rahane added 66 for the sixth wicket with all-rounder Shardul Thakur (31, 59b, 2×4). Mumbai were 253 for six in their second innings before both the team’s captains shook each other’s hands.
Mumbai were initially given some jitters by left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal, who took five for 65 in 31 overs. Following up on his first innings century, Mumbai opener Bhupen Lalwani scored a half-century (59, 144b, 6×4). Mandal took the wickets of Lalwani, debutant Amogh Bhatkal (24), Suryansh Shedge (26), ‘keeper-bat Hardik Tamore (0) and Thakur.
U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy: Ankolekar takes 7-20 as Mumbai-Bengal tie ends inside two days
On an unusually raging turner at the Wankhede Stadium which saw 40 wickets fall inside two days, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar took seven for 20 as Mumbai prised out Bengal for 46 in the final innings to score a 175-run win on Day Two of their Col CK Nayudu Trophy (for Under-23) match. On a pitch which certainly seems poor in terms of quality, all Bengal could manage was scores was 78 in their first innings, with Ankolekar taking four for 24. Ankolekar thus finished with incredible match figures of 11 for 44, while his fellow left-arm spinner Atharva Bhosale took seven for 72 (4-32 & 3-20). While 21 wickets fell on Day One, 19 fell on Day Two.
On Monday, after they bowled Mumbai out for 175 in the second innings, Bengal were left chasing 222, but collapsed badly. Continuing his good form, opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi (45, 65b, 7×4) top-scored for Mumbai.
On Sunday, bouncing back superbly after being skittled out for just 124, Mumbai shot out Bengal for merely 78 to take the first innings lead. Ankolekar (4-24), who had earlier top-scored for the hosts with 37, and Bhosale ran through the Bengal batting. Earlier, Dilshad Khan took six for 31 (overall nine for 91 in the match) for Bengal to wreck Mumbai.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 124 (Atharva Ankolekar 37; Dilshad Khan 6-31) & 175 (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 45, Sourabh Singh 30; Vaibhav Yadav 6-61, Dishad Khan 3-60) beat Bengal 78 (Atharva Ankolekar 4-24, Atharva Bhosale 4-32) & 46 (Atharva Ankolekar 7-20, Atharva Bhosale 3-20) by 175 runs.