he Pitch is an American reality show in which two advertising agencies battle to come up with a winning campaign. It makes for abysmal viewing, but reveals a lot about why there is so much appalling advertising. If an ad guru were to conceptualise a series of the same name in India, then he wouldn’t have to strive hard for content. Not at least in the 2015-16 cricket season.
Sticking to the template of pitches — some unresponsive, others unplayable — dished out of late in this part of the world, the one at the Wankhede Stadium produced a bucketful of runs on Tuesday. Akhil Herwadkar (143 batting, 257b, 16x4, 1x6) and Suryakumar Yadav (103 batting, 159b, 9x4, 3x6) ground the Gujarat attack to dust, but the quality of the strip, coupled with the lackadaisical attitude of the visiting team, left a lot to be desired. At stumps on day one of the four-day encounter, the host was 370 for two.
If opener Herwadkar batted all day in typically resolute fashion to take his season tally to 651, then Yadav was largely enterprising during the course of his second hundred of the campaign. Together, the left-right combination added 196 in exactly 50 overs even as Gujarat found new ways to exemplify its poor attitude on the field.
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Perhaps, Parthiv Patel got carried away by the patches of grass on the wicket. Why else would he put Mumbai in? His shoddy display behind the wicket — he missed a catch as well as a stumping before Herwadkar had crossed 50 — only compounded Gujarat’s problems.
And the fact that internationals RP Singh (one for 46), Axar Patel (none for 68) and Ramesh Powar (none for 65) failed to inspire confidence hurt Gujarat more. Playing in his final first-class game, Powar painted a sorry picture of himself by giving away too many easy runs, both off his bowling and fielding.
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Naturally, the Mumbai batsmen made merry. Young Jay Bista, featuring in his third first-class game, stroked his way to 44 (57b, 6x4) before slashing hard at an RP Singh delivery that found its way into the wicketkeeper’s gloves instead of the vacant third-man region.
Shreyas Iyer, he of the spunk, eased his way to another knock of substance — (75, 69b, 10x4, 1x6) — to cement his place at the top of the run charts. Iyer was particularly harsh on Jasprit Bumrah, he of the wrong-footed stride, caressing a rising delivery to third man for six. He got to 50 (off 47 balls), his fourth of the season, soon after lunch, which Mumbai took at 139 for one in 32 overs. By the time Iyer was caught behind off Rush Kalaria, he had amassed 893 runs for the season. That he has scored all these runs at nearly a run-a-ball signifies his brilliance and the helplessness of those bowling at him. Iyer and Herwadkar added 100 in 22.3 overs. It was their fourth century partnership of the season.
Herwadkar and Yadav then milked the attack for the remainder of the day. There wasn’t much to choose between their strike-rates — 56 and 65 — but Yadav was clearly the more exciting of the two. Each of his three sixes landed beyond the cow corner or, more specifically, the Sachin Tendulkar Stand.
Herwadkar moved his feet well, and struck some pleasing boundaries on either side of the wicket. He got to his 50 off 109 balls before speeding things up a little after the tea break to complete his second hundred of the campaign off 196 deliveries.
Mumbai went into the last session with the scoreboard reading 260 for two. Herwadkar and Yadav added another 110, at nearly four an over, to extend the run feast. And the pitch? Well, it went for a long nap.
The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: Akhil Herwadkar (batting) 143, Jay Bista c Parthiv Patel b RP Singh 44, Shreyas Iyer c Parthiv Patel b Rush Kalaria 75, Suryakumar Yadav (batting) 103; Extras: (lb-3, nb-2): 5; Total (for two wkts. in 90 overs): 370.
Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-174.
Gujarat bowling: RP Singh 12-1-46-1, Rush Kalaria 13-1-56-1, Jasprit Bumrah 14-2-70-0, Priyank Panchal 6-0-17-0, Axar Patel 16-1-68-0, Ramesh Powar 15-1-65-0, Raijul Bhatt 14-1-45-0.