Ajinkya Rahane’s Resilience: Unbeaten on 86 as Mumbai Reaches 237/4 Against ROI
On a weather-shortened opening day of the Irani Cup, captain Ajinkya Rahane focused hard to lead Mumbai to 237 for four against Rest of India with his unbeaten 86 off 197 balls.
The veteran of 5000 plus runs in 85 Tests, who is not on national selectors’ radar, dug deep into his reservoirs of concentration to keep Mumbai on even keel against an excellent tandem of Mukesh Kumar (3/60 in 14 overs) and Yash Dayal (1/46 in 15 overs).
In the 68 overs of play that were feasible on Tuesday, Shreyas Iyer (57 off 84 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (54 batting, 88 balls) were a little more daring in their attempts to get things going.
As Mukesh had reduced them to 37 for three in his opening stint, Rahane really played second fiddle during his 102-run fourth wicket stand with Iyer.
Sarfaraz and Rahane shared 98 runs for the fifth wicket at stumps, and they planned to build on that total on the second day.
Rahane, who has 40 first-class tons under his belt and 12 Test hundreds, wasn’t exactly a force to be reckoned with at the wicket. So far, he has struck six fours and one six off the bowling of left-arm spinner Manav Suthar over the far off.
He did get a couple of clean boundaries through off-side, but he never appeared to be at the top of the ROI bowling overall.
Suthar actually silenced him with just 22 runs off 58 balls delivered by the Rajasthan spinner, save from that six and a boundary.
He faced 38 balls against Prasidh Krishna, but could muster only seven runs.
While a century wouldn’t hurt Rahane’s standing, he would need to dominate domestic attacks to have any chance of being called up for the national team. Rahane’s outstanding leadership during the historic 2021 series win in Australia is part of Indian cricketing legend.
Iyer actually hit five of the six boundaries he had against the lanky Karnataka speedster by attacking more.
Before Dayal forced him out, the two sixes, one each from off-break bowler Saransh Jain and off-pacer Mukesh, were spectacular to witness.
When Sarfaraz faced Suthar, the left-arm spinner gave up three boundaries.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 1st Innings 237/4 in 68 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 86 batting, Sarfaraz Khan 54 batting, Shreyas Iyer 57, Mukesh Kumar 3/60) vs Rest of India.
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