A twist in the tale of the Ranji Trophy final could be on the cards with left-hander Abhishek Nayar battling it out for four hours to enable Mumbai set a fourth innings target of 312 for Gujarat on Friday.
Opener Priyank Panchal made an unbeaten 34 and his partner Samit Gohil scored 8 as their side finished the fourth day at 47 for no loss.
In a keen tussle between the two West Zone teams at the Holkar Stadium here, Gujarat met with success with the second new ball claimed at the 81st over. Medium-pacer Chintan Gaja scalped six in 39 overs, but eventually Mumbai showed fierce determination to take its second innings total to 411.
Nayar (91, 5x4, 5x6), who was determined for better part of his endeavour to keep Mumbai in contention, clouted five 6s with the tailender Vijay Gohil for company. He protected No. 10 batsman Vishal Dabholkar from strike in a stand of 44 runs. But once medium-pacer Gaja made Dabholkar chase a wide ball to edge to Gohil in the slip cordon, Nayar struck big blows to give his team a good total.
Mumbai’s most successful player with the bat and ball from the quarterfinals, Nayar, came at the fall of Siddhesh Lad in the pre-lunch session and set about the business of holding up one end.
Once again he proved to be a gritty customer when the chips were down after the dismissal of overnight batsman Suryakumar Yadav, Lad and skipper Aditya Tare.
The Gujarat bowlers who kept the Mumbai batsmen in check on the third day with a relentless outside the off stump line continued in the same vein when play began with Mumbai exactly 108 runs up with seven wickets in hand.
Skipper Parthiv Patel took the second new ball when it was due and Gaja sent back Suryakumar after giving a catch to the ‘keeper. Then a pull shot had ended Lad’s stay at the crease. Lad had hooked the previous ball for a six, but paid the price for being reckless.
Tare’s knock
Tare, who had escaped on 18 when Gaja had overstepped, went on to make an invaluable half-century before falling leg before to Hardik Patel. After his exit, Mumbai’s innings revolved around Nayar’s individual enterprise, with Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr. playing a cameo role.
Mumbai lost a couple of wickets thereafter and this dashed its hopes of scoring at a brisk pace.
It was a tough day, but Gujarat had the satisfaction of seeing its openers return unbeaten.
The scores:
Mumbai — 1st innings: 228.
Gujarat — 1st innings: 328.
Mumbai — 2nd innings: Akhil Herwadkar c Gohil b Gaja 16, Prithvi Shaw c Parthiv b Gaja 44, Shreyas Iyer c Parthiv b Gaja 82, Suryakumar Yadav c Parthiv b Kalaria 49, Aditya Tare lbw b Hardik Patel 69, Siddhesh Lad c Gandhi b R.P. Singh 15, Abhishek Nayar lbw b R.P. Singh 91, Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr. c Juneja b Gaja 20, Shardul Thakur c Karan Patel (sub) b Gaja 1, Vishal Dabholkar c Gohil b Gaja 12, Vijay Gohil (not out) 0; Extras (nb-5, w-7): 12; Total (in 137.1 overs): 411.
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-66, 3-193, 4-238, 5-270, 6-297, 7-323, 8-326, 9-370.
Gujarat bowling: R.P. Singh 29.1-8-83-2, Rush Kalaria 25-11-63-1, Chintan Gaja 39-10-10-121-6, Bhargav Merai 6-3-16-0, Hardik Patel 28-2-89-1, Rujul Bhatt 10-0-39-0.
Gujarat — 2nd innings: Samit Gohil (batting) 8, Priyank Panchal (batting) 34; Extras (lb-5): 5; Total (for no loss in 13.2 overs): 47.
Mumbai bowling: Shardul Thakur 5.2-1-17-0, B.S. Sandhu Jr. 5-1-19-0, Vijay Gohil 2-1-2-0, Abhishek Nayar 1-0-4-0.
