Sport - Cricket

Double hundred by Wasim Jaffer

Mumbai: Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer sent the first ball of the day to the square leg fence, but the sixth ball caused the downfall of Ajinkya Rahane and Hyderabad enjoyed a better start on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Bandra-Kurla-Complex here on Wednesday.

Jaffer executed brilliant strokes, provided the thrust, but saw Rahane, Amol Mzumdar, Rohit Sharma and Ramesh Powar perish to some good and loose deliveries. However, after scoring a double hundred (256, 341b, 25 x 4s, 2 x 6s) he nicked left- arm spinner Lalit Mohan to the keeper.

In spite of making inroads, Hyderabad was set an uphill task, with a rousing stand of 116 by Ajit Agarkar (77 not out, 112b, 3 x 4s, 5 x 6s) and Sairaj Bahutule (40 not out), taking the home team score to 602 when Jaffer declared 20 minutes before tea.

Opener T. Suman undeterred by the fall of Ravi Teja and Rushi Raj to Dhaval Kulkarni, played handsome strokes and lifted effortless sixes and along with Anoop Pai took Hyderabad to 82 for two at stumps on the second day.

Hyderabad skipper Arjun Yadav handed the second new ball to Ashwin Yadav, and Jaffer who used the space between the crease and stumps beautifully, neatly flicked the first ball of his pads that straightway demanded some work of the square leg fielder to fetch the ball from the boundary.

While Jaffer opened with a delightful shot, his partner Rahane departed touching a delivery that deviated enough of the pitch. Amol Muzumdar opted to come down the pitch by two yards to meet the ball on the full; he succeeded to an extent before offering a catch to a fielder inside the square on the on side.

Jaffer and Rohit Sharma took short singles for 30 minutes before the latter played a few breathtaking shots, including two sixes; the first one of off spinner Ahmed Quadri soared higher and carried the ball to the second tier of the club house, the second one of T. Suman landed near the dressing room.

Quadri was hammered for 12 in his first over of the day, and Suman for 9, but Sharma’s loose shot to cover resulted in the Mumbai innings decline before Agarkar smashed fives 6s and three 4s and in the company of left-hander Bahutule raised 116 runs.

The scores: Mumbai — Ist Innings: V. Mane c A.Kumar b M.P. Arjun 5, W. Jaffer c A. Kumar b Lalit Mohan 256, A. Rahane c A.Kumar b A.Yadav 137, A. Muzumdar c Quadri b M. P. Arjun 15, R. Sharma c Suman b M. P. Arjun 39, R. Powar c Suman b M. P. Arjun 2, A. Agarkar (not out) 77, S. Bahutule (not out) 40, Extras (b-5, lb-11, w-11, nb-4) 31; Total (for six wkts. decl. in 151.4 overs) 602.

Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-373, 3-398, 4-468, 5-472, 6-486.

Hyderabad bowling: Shoaib 9-1-36-0, Arjun 27-2-99-4, Yadav 23.4-2-94-1, Lalith Mohan 45-2-180-1, Quadri 15-0-72-0, Suman 17-0-72-0, Ravi Teja 15-5-33-0.

Hyderabad — Ist Innings: T. Suman (batting) 40, D. B. Ravi Teja c Rahane b Kulkarni 0, D. Rushi Raj c Samant b Kulkarni 2, S. Anoop Pai (batting) 35, Extras (b-1, w-1, nb-3) 5; Total (for two wkts. in 28 overs) 82.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6.

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 4-1-4-0, Kulkarni 8-4-13-2, Malvi 6-2-26-0, Powar 7-0-27-0, Bahutule 2-0-11-0, R. Sharma 1-1-0-0.

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