Mhambrey the saviour

NOVEMBER 16: It appears that Mumbai's top order batsmen are yet to have learnt their lessons from the debacle they suffered last season. ...

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NOVEMBER 16: It appears that Mumbai’s top order batsmen are yet to have learnt their lessons from the debacle they suffered last season. Paras Mhambrey and debutant Sriram Kannan taught them a few, while saving Mumbai the blushes at Wankhede Stadium this afternoon. In a defiant show of batsmanship the duo pulled the rug from under Maharashtra’s feet and put Mumbai in a commanding position on day two of the Ranji Trophy duel. When play ended, Mumbai, replying to the visitors’ 142, had gained a huge cushion of 149 runs with the last pair at the crease.

The 27-year-old Mhambrey went on to craft his maiden ton in first-class cricket. While Mhambrey returned unconquered on 111 (160b, 207m, 16×4, 3×6), the other protagonist in the rescue act, Kannan, made 35 (98b, 102m, 5×4, 1×6). That the 20-year-old Kannan was the second highest contributor to the Mumbai innings was a sad commentary on the more distinguished batsmen in the side.

Mhambrey’s heroics completely overshadowed Maharashtra medium-pacer IqbalSiddiqui’s lion-hearted effort (6-63) which had nearly put his side back in the game.

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Such a turnaround could hardly have been envisaged earlier in the day when Siddiqui skimmed the top-order, leaving Mumbai looking down the barrel at 139 for seven.

In walked Kannan and undeterred by the ruins, induced the confidence in senior mate Mhambrey, as they stemmed the rot by forging an alliance worth 85 runs for the eighth wicket.

If Siddiqui symbolised the fightback staged by Maharashtra this morning, Surendra Bhave’s agility triggered the Mumbai collapse. Opener Manoj Joglekar (9) and Jatin Paranjpe (18) fell to the Bhave-Siddiqui combination with an uncanny similarity in both dismissals. The 33-year-old Bhave, positioned at gully, plucked leading edges diving to his right to leave Mumbai reeling at 57-3.

Thereafter, Vinod Kambli (29), who came in at number 6 owing to blisters on his feet, appeared to have taken the fight into the rival camp by slamming Siddiqui for four boundaries and a six overmid-wicket. But Kambli stretched his flamboyance too far and fell holing off-spinner Satyen Lande out to long-on.

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Skipper Amol Muzumdar too seemed to run out of patience after compiling 25 off 75 balls, and departed pulling a Siddiqui lifter to the deep.Mhambrey and Kannan opened up in the concluding session, which was the most fruitful for Mumbai fetching 139 runs.

Mhambrey, who opened his account by tonking two successive sixes off Lande, reached his fifty in 93 balls. It was inclusive of seven boundaries and two sixes. He needed just another 54 balls (8×4, 1×6) to attain the three-figure mark. Mhambrey thus improved upon his earlier high of 97 scored against Gujarat at the same venue in the 1996-97 season.

Though Kannan departed fending a Siddiqui delivery, Nilesh Kulkarni (4) and last-man Santosh Saxena (batting 0) hung on bravely, enabling Mhambrey to reach the coveted mark.

Mumbai, boasting of an illiustrious legacy of batsmanship, is fast attaining the fragility of a lizard’s tail — theslightest scare and it falls off. Had it not been for Mhambrey and the young Kannan, further dents to the high-profile team were for the asking. The duo’s dare now should spur the team to go for the kill in the enxt two days.

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Scoreboard
Maharashtra (1st innings): 142
Mumbai (1st innings; overnight 25-0): Manoj Joglekar c Bhave b Siddiqui 9 (68b, 138m, 1×4); Wasim Jaffer c Kondhalkar b Siddiqui 18 (47b, 68m, 3×4); Jatin Paranjpe c Bhave b Siddiqui 18 (39b, 50m, 2×4); Amol Muzumdar c Kamtekar b Siddiqui 25 (75b, 132m, 4×4); Amol Rane lbw b Kulkarni 19 (28b, 51m, 3×4); Vinod Kambli c Nair b Lande 29 (38b, 55m, 5×4, 1×6); Paras Mhambrey batting 111 (160b, 207m, 16×4, 3×6); Rajesh Pawar c Jadhav b Siddiqui 0 (11b, 18m); Sriram Kannan c Kondhalkar b Siddiqui 35 (98b, 102m, 5×4, 1×6); Nilesh Kulkarni c Kondhalkar b Kulkarni 4 (27b, 43m); Santosh Saxena batting 0 (20b, 36m)
Extras: (12lb, 11nb) 23
Total: (for nine wickets in 100 overs; 454 mins): 291
Fall ofwickets: 1-26 (Jaffer, 14.1 overs), 2-50 (Paranjpe, 24.3), 3-57 (Joglekar, 26.5), 4-89 (Rane, 36.3), 5-127 (Kambli, 47.4), 6-127 (Muzumdar, 48.3), 7-139 (Pawar, 52.2), 8-224 (Kannan, 80.3), 9-225 (Kulkarni, 90)
Bowling: Siddiqui 28-12-63-6, Nair 20-3-80-0 (6nb), Kulkarni 26-12-54-2, Kamtekar 8-3-20-0 (3nb), Lande 15-6-53-1, Sugwekar 2-0-9-0 (1nb).