Makhwana resistance not enough as Mumbai go through to final

As Kamlesh Makhwana,who stood his ground despite suffering multiple blows to his hands...

As Kamlesh Makhwana,who stood his ground despite suffering multiple blows to his hands,and Rakesh Dhruve continued to negate Zaheer Khan & Co under constantly darkening skies,the growing frustration in the Mumbai camp was evident,and a number of nervous glances were directed heavenwards. But,in the end,Saurashtras dreams of reaching their first ever Ranji Trophy final were quashed by a couple of rash shots,two blunders from umpire Amesh Saheba,and an unfortunate delay in the arrival of the much-awaited rain at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Wednesday.

By the time Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar walked off the field after being offered the light,and the heavens eventually opened up,the attention seemed to have shifted towards Nagpur,where Shivakant Shukla was heroically guiding Uttar Pradesh past Tamil Nadus first innings total.

Saurashtra,who bowed out at the same stage of the competition last year,may not have any superstar to boast of,apart from potential ones in Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja,but throughout the season,their young lot proved that they definitely had the heart for a fight,and giving up was never on their agenda. The perfect testimony to that was their remarkable final-day chase of 325 against Karnataka in the quarter-final.

On Wednesday,Makhwana’s grit and determination against a bowling attack led by Zaheer and comprising of Ajit Agarkar,Dhawal Kulkarni and Ramesh Powar,seemed to epitomise his teams spirit as he remained unbeaten on 56. He found an able ally in left-hander Dhruve,who played a fluent innings,which included a fabulous straight drive boundary off Kulkarnis bowling.

The duo were brought together very early in the piece,as overnight batsman Jaydev Shah drove uppishly to substitute Ankit Chavan at backward point,before Sagar Jogiyani edged Kulkarni to Sharma in the slips,and it looked like Mumbai would complete an early wrap-up job. But the pair defied the opposition and managed to remain together at lunch.

Powar finally struck three balls after the duo crossed the 100-run partnership mark,rapping Dhruve on the pads,and Saheba raised his finger even though the ball seemed to pitch clearly outside leg-stump. Sandeep Jobanputra then swung his bat around,before edging Powar to slip,and last man Balkrishna Jadeja was adjudged caught behind off the off-spinner,as Saurashtra were dismissed for 379.

Amol Muzumdar missed out on achieving the record for most runs in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket in the first innings,and the reason for him coming to open Mumbais second innings seemed beyond obvious. But Sharma,who opened the innings with Muzumdar,played a few attractive shots,to add some spark to an otherwise dull day,before the match was called off,with Mumbai 42-1.

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Mumbai now head to play their 42nd Ranji Trophy final,with most of their batsmen in supreme form and with a strong Zaheer-led bowling attack. As for Saurashtra,their young players will just mature more by the time the next season starts,and they will definitely hope to climb the two extra rungs of the ladder that have been elusive so far.