The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Rest of India routs Mumbai, keeps Irani Cup

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Sunday, Sep 26, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Rest of India routs Mumbai, keeps Irani Cup

By Rakesh Rao

MOHALI, SEPT. 25. Mumbai is known to take pride in its cricket and cricketing traditions. And for this very reason, the strongest team in the country's history will find it difficult to accept one of its biggest defeats of all times.

On Saturday, Mumbai's reputation as gritty fighter took a severe beating at the hands of Rest of India as the Ranji Trophy champion's another spineless batting performance resulted in a 290 - run defeat with more than a day to spare in the Irani Cup tie here on Saturday.

Facing a target of 495 in a minimum of 177 overs, Mumbai was expected to come up with a gallant attempt and make amends for its dismal display on the first three days but that was not to be. On a pitch that held no terrors, Mumbai surrendered meekly for 204 to suffer one of its biggest defeats of all times.

Statistically, this was Rest's 18th victory in the traditional season-opener and it came more easily than anyone could have imagined. The shoulder injury that ruled out paceman Munaf Patel for the match after the first afternoon surely hurt Mumbai's prospects and allowed the lower-order Rest batsmen to escape to safety in both innings. But simply inexplicable was Mumbai's batting failures in the match.

Though it was a tame end, the day began with an eventful over when Rest resumed its second innings at 363 for nine. Zaheer Khan twice sent Robin Morris over the mid-wicket boundary to raise his tally of sixes to six. With the first 6, Zaheer reached his maiden half-century in a first-class match. Off the fifth delivery, he was dropped by Ramesh Powar but the miss did not prove costly. Immediately, Zaheer holed out to Vinayak Mane to leave Morris feeling a wee bit better.

Now it was left to Mumbai to bring out its fighting qualities. Much depended on openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane and the two began impressively. However, Rest did not have to wait for long to find the breakthrough. Once Shib Shankar Paul trapped Jaffer leg-before, wickets fell at regular intervals and the speculation of a premature end became a reality 41 minutes after tea.

The scores:

Rest of India — 1st innings: 314

Mumbai — 1st innings: 198

Rest of India — 2nd innings: Akash Chopra c and b Bahutule 41,Gautam Gambhir lbw b Powar 30, S. Sriram c and b Powar 22, Dinesh Mongia c Samant b Salvi 12, Y.Venugopal Rao c Salvi b Powar 113, Joginder Sharma c Powar b Bahutule 0, Parthiv Patel c Vinayak Mane b Salvi 68, Murali Kartik c and b Bahutule 16, Zaheer Khan c Mane b Morris 60, Yogesh Golwalkar c (sub.) Onkar Khandvilkar b Morris 0, Shib Shankar Paul (not out) 0, Extras (lb-4, nb-12) 16, Total 378.

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-82, 3-103, 4-126, 5-126, 6-288, 7-311, 8-331, 9-359.

Mumbai bowling: Salvi 28-5-82-2, Morris 19-1-95-2, Bahutule 36-10-92-3, Powar 26-5-92-3, Thakkar 4-0-11-0, Mane 1-0-2-0.

Mumbai — 2nd innings: Vinayak Mane c Chopra b Kartik 41, Wasim Jaffer lbw b Paul 14, Bhavin Thakkar c Chopra b Kartik 13, Amol Muzumdar lbw b Zaheer 11, Vinod Kambli b Joginder 36, Ramesh Powar c Mongia b Golwalkar 23, S. Bahutule (not out) 39, Robin Morris c Mongia b Golwalkar 0, Vinayak Samant c Kartik b Joginder 20, Avishkar Salvi b Joginder 1, Munaf Patel (did not bat), Extras (b-2, lb-3, nb-1) 6, Total 204.

Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-67, 3-78, 4-94, 5-126, 6-152, 7-154, 8-192, 9-204.

Rest of India bowling: Zaheer 13-0-39-1, Paul 15-3-47-1, J. Sharma 12-3-40-3, Kartik 19-4-49-2, Golwalkar 9-1-24-2.

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