Robin saves Sun-Grace the blushes

MUMBAI, MARCH 31: Robin Singh's quick-fire 52-ball 72 saved the blushes for Sun-Grace Mafatlal on the opening day of the Times Shield A Di...

MUMBAI, MARCH 31: Robin Singh’s quick-fire 52-ball 72 saved the blushes for Sun-Grace Mafatlal on the opening day of the Times Shield A Division final at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Morris’ bravado saw Sun-Grace Mafatlal recover from a sorry 185 for 7 and post a healthy 304, which was inclusive of 16 penalty runs.

Morris however had to share the day’s honour with Tatas left-arm medium pacer Sandeep Dahad, who after going wicketless in his first two spells, returned to a bag of five in his next two spells. His third spell, a five-over stint in which he took three crucial wickets —- those of Amit Pagnis (71: 134b, 8×4, 1×6), Vinod Kambli (32: 28b, 4×4, 1×6) and Nayan Mongia (10) — giving away just eight runs, turned the tide in favour of Tatas who put in Sun-Grace after the toss.

However, Morris stemmed the rot with a 60-run association for the eighth wicket with Hrishikesh Shende (17) and then adding 35 runs for the last wicket with Sanjay Khamkar (7).

SCOREBOARD

Sun-Grace Mafatlal (1st innings): Praful Dhule b Kannan 24, Amit Pagnis c Karim 71, Rohan Gavaskar c Kiran Powar b Agarkar 32, Milind Tamhane lbw Agarkar, Vinod Kambli c Yalvigi b Dahad 32, Nayan Mongia c Karim b Dahad 2, Atul Bedade c Karim b Yalvigi 10, Hrishikesh Shende b Dahad 17, Robin Morris 77 not out, Omkar Salvi c Karim 0, Sanjay Khamkar c Karim b Kannan 7; Extras: (lb2, nb9, wb4) 15. Total: (all out in 72.2 overs; including 16 runs penalty for two overs short) 304.
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-128, 3-134, 4-155, 5-162, 6-185, 7-185, 8-245, 9-253
Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 15-4-45-48-2, Sriram Kanan 13.2-3-39-2, Sandeep Dahad 15-1-58-5, Anand Yalvigi 21-5-80-1, Lalchand Rajput 4-0-16-0, Mayank Khandwala 14-2-45-0.