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Saurashtra at an uneasy 247 for five

S. Dinakar

— Photo: K. Pichumani

TIMBER: Saurashtra’s B. Chauhan has no clue to this scorcher from Ajit Agarkar as he is beaten all ends up.

Chennai: The key moment at the fag end of Tuesday was a clear set-up operation. Given Sitanshu Kotak’s tendency to walk across to work or glide the ball, Rohit Sharma was stationed at short fine-leg.

Paceman Dhaval Kulkarni pitched on the leg-stump, the left-handed Kotak moved across even as he turned his wrists around and Sharma emerged with a smart catch. The plan had worked for Mumbai.

Simple method

Kotak had defied the Mumbai attack till that point with a simple method; he blocked the good deliveries and picked up runs when the bowlers erred.

The senior batsman’s dismissal for 89 left Saurashtra at an uneasy 247 for five at the conclusion of day three in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Earlier, Mumbai declared at overnight 637 for six. Wasim Jaffer’s men are poised to enter the final although Saurashtra has a better net run-rate (calculated till the quarterfinal).

In the unlikely event of Saurashtra’s first innings remaining incomplete due to some determined batting or inclement weather, Jaydev Shah’s team will go through.

Fortunate

Jaydev was unbeaten on a rather fortunate 181-ball 45. He survived early on when ’keeper Vinayak Samant was late on a stumping — off-spinner Ramesh Powar was the bowler. The southpaw was then caught behind off a no-ball and late in the evening, reprieved by Zaheer Khan at covers.

Along the way, the Saurashtra captain also displayed some enterprise and tenacity.

Kotak brought to the crease a rather old-fashioned doggedness on a pitch that did not deteriorate. He played and left, showed a broad blade in defence, harnessed the pace of the ball and handled the short-pitched stuff well.

Earlier, the Saurashtra openers failed to consolidate on starts. Then, Cheteshwar Pujara was given a rather torrid time by some well-directed short-pitched deliveries from Ajit Agarkar.

The right-hander was squared up by these lifting deliveries rather than standing tall and keeping the ball down from a side-on position. On one occasion when Pujara attempted to sway away from the line of a bouncer, he took his eyes off the ball.

He eventually fell attempting to cut Powar.

Soon Ravindra Jadeja let himself and his team down chasing a wide delivery from Zaheer Khan.

Agarkar the pick

Agarkar was easily the pick of the Mumbai attack. He can still surprise batsmen with his pace — there were occasions when he clocked speeds around the 140 kmph — and swerve. He hustled the batsmen with bounce and bowled a probing off-stump line to both the right and left handers.

Zaheer operated with control and achieved some reverse swing. Kulkarni could not generate the extra yard of pace to make the batsman hurry into his stroke. Abhishek Nayar, who dropped Kotak off his own bowling, has the ingredients of a handy support seamer.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: 637 for six decl.

Saurashtra — 1st innings: C. Pathak c Kulkarni b Zaheer 30, B. Chauhan b Agarkar 14, S. Kotak c Sharma b Kulkarni 89, C. Pujara c Jaffer b Powar 39, R. Jadeja c Samant b Zaheer 10, J. Shah (batting) 45, K.R. Makwana (batting) 0; Extras: (b-5, lb-1, w-1, nb-13) 20; Total: (for five wkts) 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-52, 3-123, 4-151, 5-245.

Mumbai bowling: Zaheer 21-8-40-2, Agarkar 17-8-43-1, Kulkarni 16-5-51-1, Powar 22-1-76-1, Nayar 10-1-27-0; Sharma 1-0-2-0, Muzumdar 1-0-2-0.

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