Ranji Trophy: Mumbai’s crisis man Siddhesh Lad stands tall in Srinagar, slams ton vs J&K
Srinagar:Siddhesh Lad was bowled off a no-ball early in his innings, but it didn’t waver his focus. The 33-year-old tightened his defence and hardly played a loose shot thereafter to bring up his 11th First-Class century, playing a crucial role in Mumbai ending Day One at 336/5 against Jammu & Kashmir in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D opener at the Sher-I-Kashmir on Wednesday.As the sun shone brightly and the pitch settled, the visitors pressed on the accelerator. Reduced to 74/3 by the 23rd over, Lad, known as the crisis man in Mumbai circles as he has often played back to the wall knocks, led the revival with his 156-ball 116, which included 17 fours and three sixes, with support from Sarfaraz Khan (42, 48b; 6×4, 1×6) and Shams Mulani (79*, 125; 8×4, 1×6) to get Mumbai back on track.The resurrection started in the post-lunch session where he and Sarfaraz shared a 67-run association for the fourth wicket to put J&K on the back foot. Sarfaraz was timing the ball crisply, batting aggressively, and looked set for another big score, but against the run of play, he got run out by a direct throw from J&K skipper Paras Dogra.If the hosts thought they would run through the Mumbai line-up post that dismissal, Mumbai nipped that thought in the bud as Lad then teamed up with Mulani and scored at a brisk rate to keep the pressure on their opponents. By the time Lad was out, they had put on 180-ball 159 for the fifth wicket to put Mumbai in a comfortable position.So comfortable was he at the crease that Lad never looked like getting out as he grew in confidence with each ball he played. But in his endeavour to take on left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq (1/73), he was out stumped. “That was the only ball that spun the entire day. Even the bowler was surprised,” said Lad, justifying his dismissal at close of play.Barring the initial jitters, the right-hand bat was hardly troubled as he brought all his experience to the fore, which helped him deal with testing conditions early in his innings before he opened his shoulders to tame the J&K bowlers. He wasn’t afraid to leave his crease against the spinners and played some delightful drives and cuts off pacers to stop them from dominating.“There was a lot of grass on the pitch, and the conditions were favourable for bowlers early on. Post lunch, the wicket eased out and I decided to take an aggressive approach to put the pressure back on them,” said Lad of his plans.Earlier, the cooler climes and a greenish wicket meant J&K pacers were all over the Mumbai batters in the first session. They bowled a tight line and length but they would have been happier if they had picked more wickets by lunch than the eventual three they could take.
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Invited to bat, Mumbai lost Musheer Khan (0) on the third ball of the day, caught behind off right-arm pacer Auqib Nabi (1/43), who bowled tirelessly throughout the day without much luck, including castling Lad off a no-ball. Their bowlers kept probing, but Ayush Mhatre (28, 55b) and Ajinkya Rahane (27, 66b) anchored the innings and ignored the chatter around them, and survived huge appeals to put on a 109-ball 61 run-partnership for the second wicket to settle the nerves in the dressing room, and more importantly, see off the new ball.But just as they looked like carrying Mumbai to lunch with just one wicket down, both were back in the pavilion in the space of four overs, dismissed by right-arm pacer Yudhvir Singh (2/82), who conceded 12 in his first over before changing ends and getting both batters out caught behind. Mhatre, who was asked by Rahane to play straight a few overs earlier after he flashed at one delivery which flew over the slips, poked outside off to head back to the pavilion in the 19th over. Rahane’s vigil ended in the 23rd as he nicked an unplayable one to the keeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan.“We still have good batters like Tanush (Kotian) and Shardul (Thakur) to come, so we will look to stretch the score as much as possible,” Lad said, detailing the team’s plans for Day Two.Brief ScoresMumbai: 336/5 in 83 overs (Siddhesh Lad 116, Sarfaraz Khan 42, Shams Mulani 79 not out; Yudhvir Singh 2/82) vs Jammu and Kashmir
