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Jaffer leads from the front

G. Viswanath

Ahmedabad: Wasim Jaffer demonstrated fine skills, plenty of common sense and made an immense contribution to his side against a rival that showed character and refused to yield for a major part of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal here at the Motera on Saturday.

Mumbai’s main run-getter in the league Ajinkya Rahane (35, 35b, 6x4) came up with a cameo effort. Though Abhishek Nayar (39, 40b, 4x6) smashed four sixes and Rohit Sharma (98, 152b, 8x4, 3x6) played a responsible knock without compromising his aggressive intents, it was the Mumbai skipper’s show of poise while facing 183 balls that turned out to be an obstacle for Himachal Pradesh to pose as a genuine challenger.

Jaffer’s tenure in the middle for three minutes short of five hours produced a quality knock of 108 with 14 boundaries. So focused was Jaffer on Friday evening and Saturday morning that he did not risk a first scoring shot until the 30th ball he faced in a time span of 45 minutes. Jaffer and Vinayak Samant held out for almost an hour, after which Rahane played shots all over the park before offering his wicket on a platter to off-spinner Sarandeep Singh . Soon Amol Muzumdar perished offering a straightforward chance to the ‘keeper.

Mumbai needed another 110 runs to gain the first innings lead at the fall of Muzumdar, but after the arrival of Rohit, Jaffer decided to extend his solid full face of the bat defence into firm drives on the on side, straight down the ground and cut and force shots on the off side.

Pushing left-arm seamer Ashok Thakur to mid wicket, he ambled across for a single and completed his 35th first-class century. He departed at the stroke of tea, but by then Jaffer had played a captain’s knock and taken his team beyond the opponent’s total.

Breezy stand

Nayar and Rohit added 80 runs off 87 balls before the left-handed Nayar top-edged a skier.

Later, Rohit, often criticised for some poor shot selection, gifted his wicket completely missing a reverse sweep.

Mumbai ended the day at 405 for six and has virtually earned a passage to Chennai for the semifinals.

The scores:

Himachal Pradesh — 1st Innings: 250.

Mumbai — 1st Innings: V. Samant c Thakkar b Mehta 20, W. Jaffer c Indulkar b Bhatia 108, A. Rahane c Indulkar b Sarandeep 35, A. Muzumdar c Mannu b Malik 6, Rohit b Bhatia 98, A. Nayar c Thakur b Bhatia 39, S. Bahutule (batting) 28, A. Agarkar (batting 34); Extras (b-10, lb-1, nb-19, w-7) 37; Total (for six wkts. in 96 overs) 405.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-114, 3-141, 4-254, 5-334, 6-349.

Himachal Pradesh bowling: Thakur 15-5-42-0, Malik 16-2-51-1, Mehta 10-1-61-1, Sarandeep 25-0-91-1, Bhatia 26-0-136-3, Thakkar 3-1-6-0, Mukesh Sharma 1-0-7-0.

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