Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, APRIL 20: Mumbai moved a step closer to winning the Ranji Trophy for the 34th time after a mix-up between Vangipuruppu Venkata Sai Laxman and Mohammed Azharuddin saw Hyderabad lose their ascendency to finally concede a 181-run lead in the National Cricket Championship final.
After the Mumbai’s first innings folded up for 376, Hyderabad’s hopes revolved around their two senior pros — skipper Azharuddin (76, 217m, 139b, 6×4, 1×6) and Laxman (46, 95m, 63b, 8×4).
The two came together with the scoreboard reading seven for two. But they slowly took command of the situation by adding 89 runs (90m, 18.1 overs).But non-striker Laxman and Azhar hesitated in going for a sharp runcost Laxman his wicket. “He (Laxman) was slow to respond, what else.”
Azharuddin and Laxman had batted sensibly and with ease till that point. But their running between the wickets left a lot to be desired. While Azhar was always looking for sharp singles, Laxman refused quite a few. A misunderstanding was always on the cards. Playing Paras Mhambrey to short mid-off, Azhar set off for a run. But the bowler rushed to field the ball and relay it to ‘keeper Sameer Dighe, who broke the wicket with Laxman just out of the crease. Laxman was timing the ball well, driving and hooking to pick up eight fours.
All-rounder Parth Satwalkar played a few attacking shots, including a six over mid-wicket, off left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar. But he was deceived by Pawar not much later, playing into Santosh Saxena’s hands at mid-off.With half the side sent back, Mumbai stepped up the attack. With Pawar bowling intelligently, the seamers had an ideal back-up. Returning to bowl from the pavilion end, Saxena used the late afternoon breeze to get some reverse swing. And Azharuddin fell to one such away going ball.
With Mumbai main hurdle removed, the bottom half of the Hyderabad was cleaned up by the troika of Saxena, Agarkar and Pawar for the addition of only 17 runs.
In the morning, the Mumbai tail lasted for 43 minutes with Mhambrey making a worthwhile 75 and Agarkar 30. Venkatapathy Raju was the most successful for Hyderabad picking up four wickets while Narendra Pal Singh and Fiaz Ahmed had three each.
Mumbai coach Ashok Mankad had words of praise for his team. “The boys played like champions… Rajesh Pawar (3-44) bowled marvalleously.”
Mankad said Mumbai were “fortunate” to see Laxman run-out “as it pepped us up.”
SCOREBOARD
Mumbai 1st innings: (overnight 303 for 6)
Paras Mhambrey b Raju (239m, 205b, 7×4) 75
Ajit Agarkar lbw b Narendra Pal Singh (95m, 66b, 5×4) 30
Rajesh Pawar c Sheikh b Narendra Pal Singh (4m, b) 0
Abey Kuruvilla not out (38m, 23b) 5
Santosh Saxena c Sheikh b Raju (13m, 10b) 5
Extras: (b8, lb12, nb 17, w5) 42
Total: (all out in 113.2 overs, 371 mins) 376
Fall of wickets: 7-343 (Agarkar), 8-343 (Pawar), 9-370 (Mhambrey)
Bowling: Narendra Pal Singh 21-6-74-3 (nb8, w1), Ahmed 22-2-73-3 (nb5, w4), Raju 37.2-11-110-4, Satwalkar 9-3-28-0 (nb4), Kanwaljit Singh 22-0-63-0, Pratap 2-1-8-0
HYDERABAD 1st innings:
Daniel Manohar c Pawar b Agarkar (10m, 6b, 1×4) 6
Nanda Kishore c Tendulkar b Kuruvilla (15m, 9b) 0
VVS Laxman run out (Mhambrey) (95m, 62b, 8×4) 46
Mohd Azharuddin c Dighe b Saxena (217m, 139b, 6×4, 1×6) 76
Vanka Pratap c Dighe b Pawar (19m, 12b, 2×4) 8
Parth Satwalkar c Saxena b Pawar (76m, 67b, 4×4, 1×6) 30
Riaz Sheikh c Tendulkar b Agarkar (73m, 55b, 1×4) 11
Fiaz Ahmed b Saxena (17m, 16b) 0
Venkatapathy Raju c Saxena b awar (30m, 20b) 6
Narendra Pal Singh not out (10m, 3b) 1
Kanwaljit Singh b Agarkar (5m, 5b) 0
Extras: (lb 4, w 1, nb 6) 11
Total: (all out in 64.4 overs, 289 mins.) 195
Fall of wickets:- 1-7 (Manohar), 2-7 (Nandakishore), 3-96 (Laxman), 4-110 (Pratap), 5-166 (Satwalkar), 6-178 (Azhar), 7-186 (Ahmed), 8-192 (Sheikh), 9-194 (Raju).
Bowling: Agarkar 14.4-3-26-3 (nb 1, w 1), Kuruvilla 8-0-37-1 (nb 4), Saxena 13-1-46-2 (nb 1), Mhambrey 8-1-38-0, Pawar 20-5-44-3, Tendulkar 1-1-0-0
