Journalism of Courage
In their many conversations over the last one month,Zaheer Khan had asked his mentor Sudhir Naik to identify young pacers on Mumbais local circuit. Those who could bowl quick were to be brought to the India spearhead. The request came in after Zaheer had looked about in the dressing room and realised the dearth of seamers in Mumbai,and he took on the onus of helping out raw products and nurture them under him.
Zaheers concerns had been far-sighted and the Mumbai Cricket Association MCA selection committee agreed by giving him a few fast bowlers whom they felt had the ability to bowl quick and take wickets. Those in the selection committee knew Zaheers call-up for South Africa was imminent and with Dhawal Kulkarni out for nearly a month and Ajit Agarkar retiring,Mumbai who had started the season well were bound to struggle.
Guru picks his disciples
Zaheer then decided not to field Javed Khan so that he could watch over two other pacers and groom them,so they werent entirely inexperienced when he was away on national duty. On Friday,Mumbai saw two callow pacers debutant Akbar Khan and one-season-old Shardul Thakur doing most of the work while Zaheer shouldered the responsibility of dismissing the big names against Vidarbha.
After putting 261 runs on the board Mumbai had resumed the day at 254 for 8,the hosts took a mere 41.1 overs to shunt out Vidarbha and force their bowlers to come back and bowl. The visitors were out for a paltry 113 on Day Two of the four-day Ranji Trophy game and of the ten wickets,nine were claimed by Mumbais medium-pacers.
Thakur,who finished with figures of 3 for 40,said he had initially been trying to bowl quick but Zaheers advice came handy. It was simply to get his line right first so the rest would follow. The trend at the Wankhede is of bowlers enjoying the first session,but only if they could stay disciplined and consistent in their line.
We were trying to bowl fast but he Zaheer came and said that we need to bowl to one line and the rest will follow. Exactly that happened. When we tried to bowl fast,nothing happened but as soon as we concentrated on pitching it just outside off-stump we began inducing edges, Thakur said.
It was tough to handle both seamers and the movement made them trickier to handle. Of the ten wickets,seven saw the ball edged behind to slips or to the keeper and it was the two crucial wickets by Zaheer that put Mumbai in a strong position. After going wicketless in his first three spells,Zaheer came back strongly with two successive wickets. He came around the wicket to Vidarbha captain Shalabh Shrivastava.
The pitched a bit outside off-stump and darted in sharply. Shrivastava,trying to defend,only found an inside edge to short-leg. The very next ball,former India middle-order batsman Hemang Badani took his stance. As he tried to flick one to leg, the ball bounced enough to clip his edge to Aditya Tare,the wicketkeeper.
Veteran batsman Rashmi Parida attempted to delay the inevitable with his 39 and was successful in getting Vidarbha to surpass the follow-on score of 112 runs. The delay was finally broken when Akbar got last man Sandeep Singh at slips. The other Mumbai bowlers who contributed with solitary wickets were Abhishek Nayar,Kaustubh Pawar and left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar.
Outright win on the cards
Meanwhile,Aditya Tare continued his form and scored an unbeaten 110 while Ajinkya Rahane remained not out on 62,with Mumbai 179/1 at stumps. With a lead of 327 runs,Mumbai will be eyeing another outright win before Zaheer joins the national team.
Tare was probably the most aggressive to pounce on Vidarbhas pace attack. He struck a four and played two successive pull shots for six off Umesh Yadav no less to reach 99. Almost as expected,a six over long-on brought up his second hundred of the season. A long day awaits Vidarbha on Saturday.
Brief scores: Mumbai 261 amp; 179/1 A Tare batting 110,A Rahane batting 62; U Yadav 1/57 versus Vidarbha 113 all out RR Parida 36 n.o.,F Fazal 22,S Thakur 3/40,A Khan 2/28,Z Khan 2/30
