Ranji Trophy final: MP rein in Mumbai

BENGALURU: In many ways, the weather reflected Mumbai’s batting performance at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday – dank and grey with the threat of impending rain.
For the first two hours on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy final, Mumbai looked set to dominate Madhya Pradesh but were undone by their own follies. Solid starts and opportunities to score big were squandered as the 41-time champions were 248/5 in 90 overs at stumps, perhaps losing at least two more wickets than they should have.
Mumbai skipper Prithvi Shaw (47, 79b, 5x4, 1x6), who opted to bat, and Yashasvi Jaiswal (78, 163, 7x4, 1x6) made the morning proceedings interesting, showcasing an array of shots.
Shaw found his first boundary with a flick through square-leg off Anubhav Agarwal (2/56), while Jaiswal delighted all by dancing down the track to loft spinner Kumar Kartikeya for a maximum over mid-on in the seventh over.
Their 87-run opening-wicket association was broken in the 28th over. On a wicket which offered some movement and ample bounce, a fuller one from Agarwal foxed Shaw, who read the line wrong and lost his stumps while attempting a drive.
MP, who opened the bowling with Kartikeya, employed four bowlers on the day and relied more on the spinners with offie Saransh Jain being the other.
Mumbai’s march was badly hit in the second session. The top order, starting with Armaan Jaffer (26), accounted for soft dismissals.
Jaffer, who was guilty of committing to a shot early one too many times during his innings, paid the price soon. Kartikeya, who worked tirelessly bowling 31 overs on the day, got Jaffer with a slower one which the batsman attempted to drive towards cover but a thick outside edge carried to Yash Dubey on the legside.
At the other end, Jaiswal brought up his half-century in 129 balls.
MP’s fielding positions were such that the ones and twos were available but Jaiswal decided to up the tempo as did his partner Suved Parkar. Jain had Parkar’s number off the first ball of his third spell with the Mumbaikar playing his shot early and offering a leading edge to Aditya Shrivastava, who latched on to the sitter at midwicket.
While wickets tumbled at the other end, Jaiswal looked set for this third consecutive century but Agarwal consistently bowled wide outside the off stump which the opener kept pushing between third man and gully. On one occasion when he decided to drive, he miscued and edged to Dubey at gully, ending his 249-minute stay at the crease.
In the final session Sarfaraz Khan (40 n.o) and Shams Mulani (12 n.o) focused on keeping their wickets. This was after Hardik Tamore was caught at first slip by Rajat Patidar off a drifter from Jain.
While Mumbai named an unchanged squad, MP made one change, bringing in Parth Sahani in place of Puneet Datey.