Ranji Trophy 2015: Back home, Sarfaraz Khan savours ‘friendly’ fire
It was clear that there was no love lost between Uttar Pradesh batsman Sarfaraz Khan and the Mumbai squad. The wonder boy of Mumbai cricket had in fact walked out into a cauldron of hostility when he walked up to the Wankhede Stadium pitch to bat on day three for his new Ranji Trophy team.
Khan’s approach to the crease brought forward a talkative wave among the Mumbai fielders, who worked extra hard to back the chatter with fielding efforts. The motive was to starve the 18-year-old of runs and build the pressure on him with the constant talk. The teenager though, proved to have found encouragement in the reception. Of consecutive deliveries, Khan went down on one knee to slog sweep Vishal Dabholkar for a four and six, respectively.
Subsequently, pacer Shardul Thakur was brought into the bowling attack. A few inch perfect deliveries denied Khan to free his arms, in turn instigating a confidence in the bowler to stare down at the diminutive batsman. Khan though did not shy away from returning the gaze. And on the following, a bouncer, Khan ducked smartly and neatly dispatched the ball with a well-timed and executed uppercut.
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The staring sessions between the two continued, just as Khan increased his rate of dispatching the bowler throughout the ground. It wasn’t just brawn that the teenager used, there was an air of elegance in the way he neatly used his wrists to flick Thakur in the gap between long on and midwicket. He even cut the pacer between gully and third man. Steadily the pressure was back on Thakur who lost his line and bowled one delivery way down the leg side, evading a diving wicket-keeper Aditya Tare, giving the visitors four-byes. The dream return to the Wankhede didn’t include a half century however, as an Abhishek Nayar yorker caught Khan square on the front foot when he was on 44. The successful LBW appeal was wildly celebrated — Tare sprinted over to Nayar and jumping on his back. In fact, the umpire too visibly asked the Mumbai players to calm down with their festivities.
Just before Khan’s wicket, the youngster had formed a handy 70-run partnership with opener Himanshu Asnora. The top order batsman playing the patient role while Khan worked on attacking the bowlers. In only his eight first-class match, the 20-year-old set his new personal best, 92 off 262 balls, before playing a Nayar delivery onto stumps.
With five wickets down, UP pair of wicket-keeper Eklavya Dwivedi and all-rounder Piyush Chawla stabilised the innings in which the visitors were looking to outscore the hosts’ 610 score. The pair performed with a mixture of aggression and disciplined control, sharing 14 boundaries and two sixes between them. Both also finished the day with half-centuries, Dwivedi reaching his mark on the second last ball of the play, taking their partnership to 104-runs.
The visitors now trail Mumbai by 260 runs in their first innings. Skipper Suresh Raina did little to trouble the scorers in the run chase, dancing down the track aiming to loft a shot over the bowler, only to miss it completely and being stumped out for nine.
BRIEF SCORES: Mumbai 610/9 decl. UP 350/5 in 117 overs (Himanshu Asnora 92, Piyush Chawla 52*, Umang Sharma 52).
