Rohit ton puts Mumbai on top

Rajasthan had no answer to Sharma’s flamboyance with the willow on Wednesday. The youngster showed why he is so highly rated by the pundits as he cut, drove and plundered the Rajasthan bowling attack at will. In fact, Sharma slammed his first eight scoring shots into the boundary, finishing the 140-ball innings with 22 fours and one towering six.

Sharma had come to the crease early on Wednesday, after overnight batsman Amol Mazumdar was caught by Venugopal Rao off Pankaj Singh, having added just five runs to his overnight score.

With the score reading 35/3, Mumbai looked to be in spot of bother. But Sharma’s 171-run fourth-wicket stand with Sahil Kukreja took the total beyond 200 and as good as sealed Rajasthan’s fate. After Kukreja was caught behind off Pankaj for a well-made 83, Sharma added 36 more runs with Ramesh Powar before falling to Gajendra Singh.

When Wasim Jaffer declared the Mumbai innings at tea, it was clear that he was looking for an early breakthrough and Kulkarni did not disappoint his skipper. He shattered opener Saxena’s stumps with just the second ball of his first over, with Rajasthan still on zero. The early setback shook visitors, as they quickly lost wicketkeeper Nikhil Doru, trapped in front of the wicket by Usman Malvi.

Kulkarni then had Venugopal Rao caught by Kukreja at gully for nine. And when Ramesh Powar got opener Subhanshu Vijay caught at forward short-leg by Ajinkya Rahane for 26, it was obvious that Rajashtan now need something of a miracle to save them.

Brief scores: Mumbai (1st Innings) 307 in 90.2 overs and (2nd Innings) 305-7 in 78 overs decl. (Sahil Kukreja 83, Rohit Sharma 128, Sairaj Bahutule 35 not out; Pankaj Singh 4-83) vs Rajasthan (1st Innings) 204 in 70.4 overs and (2nd Innings ) 63-4 in 23 overs (S Vijay 26; Dhaval Kulkarni 2-16).