Mumbai cricket team's coach Chandrakant Pandit blasts Wankhede’s flat pitch as their Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh ends in a tame draw
The Group 'B' Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh ended in a tame draw yesterday with nearly 350 overs being bowled and over 1,100 runs being scored over four days. The Wankhede Stadium hardly offered any assistance for the bowlers.
Chandrakant Pandit
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Mumbai posted 610-9 declared in the first innings and restricted UP to 440, thanks to Abhishek Nayar's 4-63 and Vishal Dabholkar's 4-116. Following on, UP were 140-1 with Himanshu Asnora and Umang Sharma unbeaten with half-centuries when play was called off at the start of the mandatory overs. Mumbai pocketed three points while UP got just one point.
Also Read: Ranji Trophy - Mumbai fail to beat UP, earn three points in drawn tie
Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit was clearly unhappy with the 22-yard strip dished out by curator Ramesh Mhamunkar. "The wicket could have been much better. We were expecting a result after scoring over 600 in the first innings. We thought the wicket would turn on the last two days, but that didn't happen. We expect certain kind of wickets at home," said Pandit.
Nayar bowled 11 overs in the first session of the final day and was rewarded with the wickets of Uttar Pradesh batsmen Eklavya Dwivedi and Piyush Chawla. Nayar struck in the eighth over of the day after Akhil Herwadkar, diving to his right, took a beauty to get rid of Dwivedi for 66.
Super Nayar
Twelve overs later, Nayar was successful in claiming the wicket of Chawla, who looked solid throughout his 186-minute stay. Shreyas Iyer made no mistake while taking a good catch, diving in front at cover to dismiss Chawla for 84.
Mumbai players make an unsuccessful lbw appeal against Uttar Pradesh's Himanshu Asnora at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
Mumbai's left-arm spinner Dabholkar did well to clean up the tail, claiming the wickets of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (22), Praveen Kumar (6) and Ankit Rajpoot (3). Dabholkar also claimed Dwivedi's wicket in the second innings to finish with five wickets in the match.
UP opener Asnora was not happy with the way his team batted. "We are a bit disappointed not to get the first innings lead. It was a very flat track and we could have scored 600 as well, but we did not get the kind of big partnerships that we were looking for," said Asnora, who scored 92 in the first innings and an unbeaten 68 in the second dig.
Brief scores
Mumbai 610 drew with Uttar Pradesh 440 & 140-1 (H Asnora 68*, U Sharma 62*; V Dabholkar 1-30)
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