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Jaffer, Tendulkar take game away from Saurashtra

S. Dinakar

— Photo: K. Pichumani

MASTERCLASS: Sachin Tendulkar sent the Saurashtra players on a leather hunt in Chennai on Monday.

Chennai: On a sun-lit Monday, Wasim Jaffer constructed a monument and Sachin Tendulkar delighted with a blaze of shots. The different strokes from these two batsmen propelled Mumbai to a position of strength on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Saurashtra at Chepauk.

Jaffer made a 301 of dedication and enterprise while Tendulkar retired hurt after a spirit-lifting 122.

Mumbai lost a cluster of wickets and some momentum after Tendulkar (122, 160b, 9x4, 5x6) walked back. However, at 637 for six, it still held all the aces on an increasingly dusty pitch that offered the spinners a fair measure of assistance late on day two.

Pleasing shots

Jaffer drove pleasingly between cover and mid-wicket, moved across to whip the pacemen from the off-stump or beyond to the on-side. Jaffer (301, 459b, 27x4) combined his natural ability with hard nosed professionalism as he concentrated hard after even after crossing the 200-run mark.

Before miscuing an attempted flick back to left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv, Jaffer had completed his second Ranji triple hundred.

The entertaining 227-run partnership — the stand followed Ajinkya Rahane’s innings of struggle (85, 193b, 4x4, 2x6) — took the game further away from Saurashtra.

The Saurashtra bowling was hardly likely to threaten Tendulkar on a flat deck. His footwork was precise and his balance perfect.

Stirring moment

In a stirring moment, Tendulkar danced down the track on the on-side and freed his arms to loft left-arm spinner Dhruv over covers. There were various elements involved in the execution of the stroke — his movement outside the left-stump had to be fluent and decisive, he had to get to the pitch of the ball with his left foot leading the way, and create the room to strike the ball with the spin on the off-side.

Tendulkar converted the sequence into one synchronised motion.

He paddle and reverse swept the spinners to disrupt their length. Tendulkar used the width of the crease for the cut shot, waiting for the ball to spin and then directing it with his strong wrists.

Tendulkar clever cricketing mind was also on view. When left-arm paceman Balakrishna Jadeja bowled a negative outside-the-off-stump line from round-the-wicket, the maestro countered the ploy by taking an off-stump guard.

There were four fielders — a point, cover, extra-cover and a mid-off — in the off-side cordon backed by a man at sweeper cover. Tendulkar still managed to caress B. Jadeja to the cover fence.

Tendulkar had a stroke of luck on 78 when he walked down the track to paceman Jobanputra but his miscued drive was grassed at cover by Jaydev Shah.

Paradoxically, Tendulkar was inspirational against a Saurashtra attack lacking in inspiration.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: V.R. Samant lbw b Dhruv 49, W. Jaffer c & b Dhruv 301, A. Rahane c Kotak b Makwana 85, S. Tendulkar (retd hurt) 122, A. Muzumdar c Jogiani b B. Jadeja 2, R. Sharma lbw b R. Jadeja 28, A. Nayyar (batting) 29, A. Agarkar lbw b R. Jadeja 2, R. Powar (batting) 8; Extras: (b-6, lb-2, w-2, nb-1) 11; Total: (for six wkts) 637.

Fall of wickets: 1-91, 2-332, 3-564, 4-580, 5-615, 6-619.

Saurashtra bowling: Jobanputra 34-6-99-0, B. Jadeja 43-2-150-1, R. Jadeja 39-4-100-2, Dhruv 42-2-161-2, Makwana 12-1-86-1, Kotak 6-1-12-0, Shah 3-0-14-0, Pujara 1-0-7-0.

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