Mumbai, whose hopes of qualifying are gone, unearthed a specialist opening batsman in Aakarshit Gomel in its last Ranji Trophy group game.
The 26-year-old, right-hander displayed patience and shot-selection to thwart Madhya Pradesh on the opening day at the Wankhede Stadium and a century (122, 240b, 11x4, 1x6) on First Class debut was a fitting reward for a mix of caution and carpet drives.
Sarfaraz Khan is going strong on 169 and the duo helped the host recover from 71 for three to 352 for four in 85 overs.
Compact at the crease and getting behind the line against medium-pacers in the early part of the innings, played under a cloud cover, he cashed in when the bowlers erred to reach a stylish half-century after 117 balls (six fours) and built on the confidence to reach 101 off 201 balls. Gomel, who came through the ranks, was a revelation with his risk-free batting that lasted 377 minutes.
MP pacer Kuldeep Sen, who impressed with swing and control, struck with the his very first ball, getting the ball to swing just enough to draw opener Hardik Tamore forward and beat his man with an away movement. He was unlucky to be caught over-stepping after a cut-back sent Sarfaraz’s off-stump flying off the fourth ball faced while Siddhesh Lad reacted late to an inswinging delivery.
Gomel chose the sensible way of occupying the crease as senior partner Suryakumar feasted on the bowling, reading the ball off the pitch early and driving with contempt, to slam nine boundaries before failing to keep down an attempted glide.
The new opener played the perfect foil to an aggressive Sarfaraz, the fourth wicket stand fetching 275 runs before the debutant walked back.
His partner returned unbeaten on 169 off 204 balls, smashing 22 fours and three sixes.
The scores:
Mumbai — 1st innings:Hardik Tamore c Rohera b Sen 12, Aakarshit Gomel c Shrivastava b Sharma 122, Suryakumar Yadav c Dubey b Sen 43, Siddhesh Lad b Sen 4, Sarfaraz Khan (batting) 169, Ankush Jaiswal (batting) 0; Extras (nb-1, w-1): 2; Total (four wkts. in 85 overs): 352.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-68, 3-72, 4-347.
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Gaurav 16-1-79-0, Ravi 15-1-54-0, Sen 15-1-67-3, Venkatesh 14-3-49-0, Hirwani 15-0-69-0, Sharma 10-1-34-1 .
