Pujara’s wicket contributes to Avasthi’s ‘dream debut’

Mohit Avasthi

Mumbai's debutant Mohit Avasthi was thrilled to claim the prize wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara as the 41-time champions dominated defending champions Saurashtra in their opening Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Saurashtra were bowled out for 220 with medium-pacer Avasthi claiming 4-56 and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani ending with 4-55. Mumbai scored a mammoth 544-7 in the first innings. Mumbai skipper Prithvi Shaw enforced the follow-on as Saurashtra ended Day Three at 105-0; trailing by 219 runs.

"It [Pujara's wicket] was like a dream debut for me. We all know how big a batsman Pujara is. My aim was to get him out and I did it. I missed taking a fifer, but I am happy that we took the first innings lead. Everyone bowled really well, especially Dhawal Kulkarni [0-36] and Siddharth Raut [0-40] initially. They created the pressure and I just bowled my best balls of the day. Shams too built pressure," Avasthi told Sunday mid-day from Ahmedabad.

Describing Pujara's wicket, Avasthi said: "I bowled the first ball on the off stump...it was a good length delivery, which he defended confidently. He left the next two away-going deliveries. I then bowled an in-swinger to get him out LBW," Avasthi explained.

Brief scores
Mumbai 544-7 decl v Saurashtra 220 (S Jackson 61, C Jani 40, S Patel 35; S Mulani 4-55, M Avasthi 4-56) & 105-0 (S Patel 64', H Desai 39')