Jaipur, Dec 26 (PTI) Rohit Sharma suffered a golden duck but Mumbai had enough firepower in its arsenal to quell the Uttarakhand challenge by 51 runs in a Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here Friday.
Batting first, Mumbai scored a healthy 331 for seven with useful contributions from keeper-batter Hardik Tamore (93 not out off 82 balls), Sarfaraz Khan (55 off 49 balls) and Musheer Khan (55 off 56 balls).
Later Musheer (2/57) also did his bit with the ball, snaring a couple of wickets as Uttarakhand managed 280 for 9 in the end largely due to left-handed opener Yuvraj Choudhary’s run-a-ball 96.
Onkar Tarmale, a surprise pick by Sunrisers Hyderabad, on List A debut picked 2 for 40 and seemed steady third seamer.
The 5000 odd crowd was in
for a disappointing day as their hero Rohit was dismissed off the very first delivery he faced.
Lanky medium fast bowler Devendra Bora (3/74) scalped the most memorable victim of his career when he dug one short and the former India skipper instinctively went for a pull shot.
Jagmohan Nagarkoti stationed at deep fine leg juggled before taking it on second attempt.
While Rohit left even before crowd had gathered in full steam, none of the 6000 to 7000 odd left the ground waiting for their man’s fielding session. Rohit took a sharp catch at first slip off Shardul Thakur to dismiss opener Kamal Singh.
The crowd in a mood for a bit more started chants of ‘Ek Do, Rohit ko bowling do’ but skipper Thakur didn’t pay heed to their demand.
During the 49th over when Mumbai had sealed the game, Tushar Deshpande in fact asked his senior colleague if he would like to roll his arm over but he refused.
Earlier, when Mumbai batted, the Khan brothers Sarfaraz and Musheer added 107 runs for the third wicket to lay the platform for a big total.
While Sarfaraz mainly hit shots square of the wicket including a big six off left arm spinner Mayank Mishra, his younger brother Musheer played a lot within the ‘V’ with some straight hit over seamer’s head.
Both were guilty of throwing away starts.
Tamore then took charge as he ran well between the wickets and also used his feet against the two left-arm spinners Mishra and J Suchith, hitting them for a six each.
One was an inside out lofted drive over extra cover while the other was hit wide off long on.
His stand of 95 in 10.5 overs with Mumbai’s forever crisis man Shams Mulani (48 off 35 balls) proved to be decisive even though he missed out on what would have been a well deserved ton.
Brief Scores: Mumbai: 331 for 7 in 50 overs (Hardik Tamore 93, Sarfaraz Khan 55, Musheer Khan 55; Devendra Bora 3/74).
Uttarakhand: 280/9 in 50 overs (Yuvraj Choudhary 96; Onkar Tarmale 2/40). PTI KHS AT AT
