The gamble of dishing out a green seamer in search of an outright victory was appearing to blow up into Mumbai’s face when they were left reeling at 74 for five inside the first session of play.
The barn-door like bat of all-rounder Shivam Dube, however, rescued the hosts from the mess as the 41-time champions were dismissed for 297 – a total that would make Gujarat batsmen toss and turn in their beds overnight given the nature of the pitch.
The strapping left-hander, whose mannerisms resemble that of Yuvraj Singh, borrowed his idol Brian Lara‘s composure to pull Mumbai out of the rut.
Dube made most of a dropped chance to strike six clean sixes and eight fours in his career-defining knock of 110. The 128-ball effort is his second three-figure score in three matches and is likely to get him some attention from the IPL franchises.
Gujarat owe it to their left-arm seamer Arzan Nagwaswalla. The 21-year-old playing only the third match of his career dismantled the Mumbai middle-order to return with figures of 5-78.
The man from Umargam near Valsad broke the threatening 53-run stand between Siddhesh Lad and Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket and then, in his next over, accounted for Armaan Jaffer and Aditya Tare. He later dismissed Lad, and got rid of the feisty debutant Dhurmil Matkar to wind up Mumbai’s innings at the fag-end of the day.
It wasn’t the best of starts for the nervous Nagwaswalla who occasionally bowls at Mumbai’s Parsee Gymkhana.
His senior partner and fellow tribesman Roosh Kalaria had made early inroads by sending back both the Mumbai openers.
Yadav had batted patiently for his 40 when he suffered from a brain-freeze. After cutting Nagwaswalla through point and gully for a crisp four, he tried to play a hoick to long-leg and perished in the deep.
Jaffer, playing his first Ranji match since 2016, fell for cipher attempting to play across the line to a moving Nagwaswalla delivery he should have played straight to. Tare exhibited a confused state of mind as he dabbed at an away going delivery into the hands of Bhargav Merai at second slip.
Promoted to No. 3, Lad meant business as he made a tenacious 62. The wiry batsman struck seven boundaries as he constructed a 74-run partnership with Dube. But a rash shot saw him top edge a delivery to the ‘keeper.
Dube, nevertheless, continued in similar vein as he slammed sixes over the bowler’s head at regular intervals, some of which landed in the stands. The 25-year-old given a let off by Rujul Bhatt in the slips off Chintan Gaja when he was on 14, joined hands with skipper Dhawal Kulkarni to stitch a 84-run stand.
Kulkarni, playing the role of a formidable ally to his junior partner, stuck around for 86 minutes before he was run out by his opposite number Priyank Panchal as he attempted a sharp single. The diminutive Matkar defied the Gujarat bowlers as he opened his shoulders and hit a couple of huge sixes as he went on to score 47.
Earlier, Gujarat’s day started on a sour note when their bowler Mehul Patel, who was likely to play, fell on his head while climbing down the dressing room steps. He was rushed to the hospital after he complained of concussion but the scans came clear. The incident had happened before the toss and it allowed Gujarat to replace Patel with Gaja.
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