Ranji: Iyer onslaught gives Mumbai hopes of outright victory

Shreyas Iyer blitzed his way to 83 of just 60 balls after Mumbai pressed on for a much-needed outright victory after taking the first innings lead over table toppers Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy tie Monday.

Iyer slammed seven sixes, three of them off successive balls from left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja before perishing to the fourth ball while trying for a fourth maximum hit.

Mumbai ended day three of the four-day Elite Group A match by making 175 for five in their second innings, an overall lead of 221 going into the final day Tuesday.

Iyer, who looked out for runs from the first ball he faced after coming to the crease at 20 for one, also struck 5 fours and got involved in a rapid-fire fourth wicket stand of 74 in 57 balls with all rounder Shivam Dube who made a brisk 29-ball 39 with the help of three sixes and as many fours.

 

Earlier, resuming at the overnight 213 for five chasing Mumbai's first innings total of 394, Saurashtra were bowled out for 348, with 12 minutes left for tea.

Mumbai got rid of Prerak Mankad, who was the not out batsman at stumps last evening along with Chirag Jani, early on for 59 with the score on 230.

But Jani kept his end up and prolonged the innings in the company of the lower order batsmen before he was last out for 85 in 176 balls, laced with one six and seven fours.

Saurashtra's hope of taking the lead did not materialise and Mumbai, languishing low down in the combined A and B Groups table, expectedly went for quick runs when they commenced their second innings after tea.

They lost wickets too, in the process, and were 44 for 3 before Iyer and Dube lashed out at the bowlers with Jadeja and left arm medium pacer Hardik Rathod bearing the brunt of the onslaught.

Dube departed when he failed to clear the cover fielder off rival captain Jaydev Unadkat who had earlier dismissed first innings centurion and opener Jay Bista.

Chetan Sakariya, the other left-arm seamer in the left -oriented Saurashtra bowling attack, grabbed the wickets of Vikrant Auti and Mumbai captain Siddesh Lad.

But Iyer and Dube came together and took the bowling apart to wrest back the initiative.

At stumps, Shubham Ranjane (12) and Aditya Tare (7) were at the crease for Mumbai.

Meanwhile at Raipur, Chhattisgarh were in a good position to score an outright win over Maharashtra, who ended the third day at 172 for 3 in their second innings, still trailing by 51 runs.

After bundling out Maharashtra for 239 in their first innings, Chhattisgarh secured the crucial first innings lead by posting 462 in their first essay.

At Nagpur, hosts Vidarbha posted a hefty 485 in their first essay and overhauled Gujarat's first innings score of 321.

Veteran Wasim Jaffer slammed 126 and there were crucial contributions by the middle order batsmen for the hosts. Gujarat ended the penultimate day At 22 for 1, still trailing by 142 runs.

At Shivamoga, Railways needed 318 runs to win against hosts Karnataka, with nine wickets in hand.

Brief scores:

In Mumbai: Mumbai 394 and 175 for 5 (Shreyas Iyer 83, Shivam Dube 39, Shubham Ranjane 12 not out, Aditya Tare 7 not out; J Unadkat 2 for 26, C Sakaria 2 for 38) versus Saurashtra 348 Sheldon Jackson 95, Prerak Mankad 59, Chirag Jani 85; R Dias 2 for 63, S Dube 2 for 34, T Kotian 2 for 81, M Manjrekar 2 for 75).

At Raipur: Maharashtra 239 and 172/3 (Kedar Jadhav 103 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 34, Onkar Verma 3-53) versus Chhattisgarh 462 (Ajay Mandal 135, Ashutosh Singh 114, Amandeep Khare 108, Anupam Sanklecha 5-89).

At Nagpur: Gujarat 321 and 22/1 (Kathan Patel 17 not out) versus Vidarbha 485 (Wasim Jaffer 126, A V Wadkar 88, Ganesh Satish 75, S A Desai 8-148).

At Shivamoga: Karnataka 214 and 290/2 declared (Dega Nischal 101, K V Siddharth 84 not out, Harsh Tyagi 2-78) versus Railways 143 and 44/1 (Saurabh Wakaskar 20 not out, Nitin Bhille 16 not out, Prasidh Krishna 1-4).