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Journalism of Courage
Mumbai, December 3: Vinod Kambli once again lived upto his name. The `Dada’ of domestic cricket slammed an unbeaten 203 (338m, 241b, 23×4, 5×6) against Guajrat on the second day of the West Zone Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Gujarat at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
After Kambli reached his double, Mumbai captain Sameer Dighe applied a closure to the Mumbai innings at 521-5. In reply, Gujarat finished the day at 124-3 with Mukund Parmar unbeaten on 33 and Tejas Varsani giving him company on 27.
Resuming at their overnight score of 340-4, Dighe and Kambli, started off from where they had left. Kambli, in particular, relished against an attack which could be at best called `club’ class.
Kambli once again presented a contrasting facet of his game which seems to blossom always against such attacks and struggles against the likes of Vaas, Walsh and others.
But the southpaw did not seem to agree with the opinion that the Gujarat attack was pedestrian . “I think they bowled well, the three seamers toiled hard and (I) had to bide my time while scoring”, said Kambli.
At the other end, however, Sameer Dighe scored his runs at will and was unlucky to miss out the three-figure mark. The Mumbai skipper was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Lalit Patel for 87 ((220m, 168b, 14×4).
Sairaj Bahutule, making a comeback, then came in at the fall of Dighe’s wicket, but found it difficult to push the pedal on the accelerator.
But Vinod Kambli continued to plunder runs and soon reached his double hundred slashing a ball from off-spinner Damani for yet another four.
The visitors did not have a good start as their opener Vivek Gandhi left without troubling the scorers. Santosh Saxena at this stage was bowling with good rhythm and seemed to have the Gujarat batsmen in all kinds of trouble.
Niraj Patel, under-19 World Cup star, who has impressed one and all with his audacious strokeplay in the match against Zimbabwe at Indore, did not disappoint. Favouring the cut shot, the pocket-sized left-hander, played the seamers and spinners well.
He played what was possibly the shot of the day, a cover-drive off Robin Morris, but soon after reaching his half-century he was consumed by Ramesh Powar, with a ball that spun a little.
This brought the veteran duo of Mukund Parmar and Tejas Varsani, who played out the remaining overs with ease .
With Gujarat needing another 248 runs to avoid the follow-on, the match is interestingly poised.
SCOREBOARD
Mumbai (1st innings; overnight 340-4) Wasim Jaffer c N Patel b Majmudar (221m, 159b, 14×4, 2×6) 97
Vinayak Mane runout (Patel) (190m, 147b, 8×4) 57
Robin Morris lbw b Majmudar (40m, 31b, 2×4, 1×6) 17
Amol Muzumdar c Damani b Varsani (32m, 18b, 1×4) 9
Vinod Kambli (not out) (338m, 241b, 23×4, 5×6) 203
Sameer Dighe lbw b L Patel (220m,168b, 14×4) 87
Sairaj Bahutule (not out) (94m, 80b, 2×4) 24
Extras (b1, lb18, nb16, w2) 27
Total (for five wickets decl in 138 overs) 521
Fall of wickets : 1-154 (Mane, 46.5 overs), 2-179 (Jaffer, 53.1) 3-186 (Morris, 55.4), 4-203 (Muzumdar, 60.1), 5-436 (Dighe,113.4)
Bowling :Majmudar 33-5-114-2; Bhavik Patel 29-4-96-0; Lalit Patel 24-2-103-1; Mehta 28-7-99-0; Varsani 10-2-25-1; Paramar 3-0-30-0; Damani 11-0-45-0.
Gujarat (1st innings)
Nilesh Modi run out (Morris) (49m, 26b, 1×4) 7
Vivek Gandhi c Dighe b Saxena (10m, 4b) 0
Niraj Patel c Muzumdar b Powar (104m, 64b, 10×4) 54
Mukund Parmar (batiing) (122m, 92b, 6×4) 33
Tejas Varsani (batting) (56m, 46b,2×4, 1×6) 27
Extras (lb1, nb2) 3
Total (for 3 wickets in 40 overs) 124
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Gandhi, 1.4 overs, 2-34 (Modi,10.4), 3-78 (Niraj, 25.2)
Bowling: Mhambrey 11-2-32-0; Saxena 10-4- 19-1; Ramesh Powar 7-0-26-1; Morris 2-0-13-0; Rajesh Pawar 5-0-25-0; Bahutule 5-0-1-8.
