By Admin 
Ayush Pandey’s gritty ton thwarted Mumbai’s bid for an outright win against Chhattisgarh despite the home team enforcing a follow-on in their Group-D Ranji Trophy fixture.
At the MCA-BKC ground on Tuesday, the seasoned spinner Shams Mulani claimed yet another five-wicket haul as Mumbai bundled out Chhattisgarh for 217 in the first innings, and aimed for a win to grab those crucial six points.
Mulani
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI
Enjoying a lead of 199 runs, the Mumbai camp looked confident of picking up 10 wickets in the second essay, and two early wickets further boosted its chances.
However, with Ayush (117 not out, 168b, 17×4, 1×6) bringing up his second First Class century and forging an unbroken 86-run partnership with captain Amandeep Khare, Mumbai had to content itself with three points by virtue of the first-innings lead.
The 22-year-old Ayush was in no rush to score runs, and having scored a fifty in the first innings, he knew he just had to stay calm and execute his plans on a surface that was getting easier to bat on.
Mumbai persisted with three spinners – Mulani, Musheer Khan and Himanshu Singh – who claimed one wicket apiece and of the 58 overs, only seven were bowled by fast bowlers. Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur, who did not bowl in the second innings, later confirmed that it was a conscious decision to give a break to the pacers.
Even as Chhattisgarh lost a couple of wickets early, Ayush took an aggressive approach against the left-arm spinners, wanting to score off the incoming deliveries. Against Himanshu, he played more on the off-side to ensure that there were no slip-ups.
Earlier, as Mulani furrowed the tail and Chhattisgarh lost its last four wickets for 42 runs, Mumbai went all-out for a win, but in the end, it was a dull draw.
The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: 416.
Chhattisgarh — 1st innings: Ayush Pandey c Raghuvanshi b Himanshu 50, Shashank Chandrakar c Sarfaraz b Himanshu 43, Ashutosh Singh c Raghuvanshi b Mulani 34, Sanjeet Desai lbw b Musheer 15, Amandeep Khare c Rahane b Musheer 1, Shashank Singh c Rahane b Himanshu 33, Ajay Mandal c Raghuvanshi b Mulani 0, Aditya Sarwate c Rahane b Mulani 11, Vasudev Bareth c Shardul b Mulani 9, Sourabh Majumdar c Shardul b Mulani 6, Ravi Kiran (not out) 0; Extras: (lb-12, nb-2, b-1): 15; Total (in 76.5 overs): 217.
Fall of wickets: 1-85, 2-114, 3-149, 4-151, 5-163, 6-167, 7-198, 8-198, 9-212.
Mumbai bowling: Shardul 3-0-24-0, Deshpande 5-0-28-0, Mulani 26.5-8-59-5, Himanshu 21-6-42-3, Irfan 6-2-13-0, Musheer 15-1-38-2.
Chhattisgarh — 2nd innings: Ayush Pandey (not out) 117, Shashank Chandrakar lbw b Himanshu 11, Ashutosh Singh c Rahane b Musheer 17, Sanjeet Desai b Mulani 26, Amandeep Khare (not out) 26; Extras: (b-4, lb-1): 5; Total (for three wkts. in 58 overs) 202.
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-57, 3-116.
Mumbai bowling: Irfan 3-0-11-0, Himanshu 23-5-66-1, Mulani 19-4-81-1, Musheer 9-2-31-1, Deshpande 4-1-8-0.