By IANS
Rajkot : Sahil Kukreja and Abhishek Nayar smashed centuries to guide Ranji Trophy winners Mumbai to 385 for eight wickets against the Rest of India on the opening day of the Irani Trophy tie here Saturday.
Kukreja scored 110 (210 balls, 17x4s) and Nayar struck a fluent 118 (108 balls, 20x4s, 1×6) at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground.
Rest of India pacer Ranadeb Bose was the most successful bowler for his side with three wickets while Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha took two wickets each.
Openers Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane (52) gave a good start and added 91 runs for the first wicket after Mumbai elected to bat.
Rahane was unfortunate to be trapped leg before wicket to a Bose delivery that was going down the leg side.
After Rahane’s dismissal, Mumbai lost three quick wickets and were struggling at 164 for four. But determined Kukreja played a patient knock to bail his team out.
Kukreja struck his third first-class century and second in succession. His innings was in direct contrast to Nayar’s blistering knock, which was Nayar’s second first-class century.
The duo added 172 runs in 31.2 overs in a partnership that was the highlight of the opening day.
The partnership ended in a run out, when Nayar called Kukreja for a cheeky run to cover, but Subramaniam Badrinath hit the stumps to send Kukereja back to the pavilion.
In the next over, Nayar departed when he tried to sweep Ojha and gave a top edge to Ishant Sharma.
The tail didn’t wag much, but a small 26-run partnership between Ramesh Powar (28 not out) and Iqbal Abdulla (16 not out) took Mumbai closer to a competitive score.
Scoreboard:
Day I, Irani Trophy, Mumbai vs. Rest of India, Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot, Oct 6
Mumbai:
Sahil Kukreja run out (Badrinath) 110
Ajinkya Rahane lbw Bose 52
Wasim Jaffer c Kaif b Bose 8
Amol Muzumdar lbw Ojha 8
Prashant Naik lbw Sharma 12
Abhishek Nayar c Sharma b Ojha 118
Ramesh Powar not out 28
Ajit Agarkar c Raina b Bose 4
Omkar Gurav c Patel b Sharma 0
Iqbal Abdulla not out 16
Extras (b 2, lb 8, w 3, nb 16) 29
Total (for eight wickets in 86 overs) 385
Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Rahane, 24.3 overs), 2-109 (Jaffer, 30.1), 3-150 (Muzumdar, 37.1), 4-164 (Naik, 42.3), 5-336 (Kukreja, 73.5), 6-338 (Nayar, 74.6), 7-343 (Agarkar, 75.4), 8-359 (Gurav, 79.5)
Bowling:
Munaf Patel 15.5-0-71-0 (9nb)
Ranadeb Bose 22.1-4-88-3 (2w)
Ishant Sharma 17-5-53-2 (3nb, 1w)
Pragyan Ojha 18-0-96-2
Amit Mishra 8-0-47-0 (3nb)
Subramaniam Badrinath 5-0-16-0
Umpires: Krishna Hariharan and S.K. Tarapore
TV umpire: Rajesh Deshpandey
Match referee: M. Nayyar