Ranji Trophy: Siddhesh Lad's Unbeaten 80, Musheer Khan's 65 Rescue Mumbai After Early Jolt

Mumbai: Skipper Siddhesh Lad and Musheer Khan saved the day for Mumbai while Chandigarh punched above their weight as the two teams shared the honours on day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

At stumps on day one, Mumbai were 249/5 in 84 overs with Lad batting on 80 in 176 balls with eight fours while Shams Mulani accompanied him on 27 in 46 balls in 82 minutes.

Earlier, vice-captain Ayush Mhatre’s 48 and Musheer Khan’s 65 helped Mumbai find some momentum after losing star India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal early.

Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohra won the toss and elected to field first and Jagjit Singh Sandhu justified that decision early.

The pacer sent India opener and star batter Yashasvi Jaiswal packing off the last ball of the third over caught by S Bhambri to put Mumbai on the backfoot.

Mhatre was rebuilding for Mumbai as he slammed 31 in 48 balls after 14 overs with Mumbai reaching 39/1. Musheer Khan was giving him company batting on four after coming one down.

Chandigarh bowlers Sandhu, Rohit Dhanda and Raj Bawa kept Mumbai in check with some incisive bowling.

In the 19th over, Mhatre smashed Dhanda for a cracking square cut boundary that proved his growing reputation.

Mumbai brought up their fifty in 19.2 overs as Mhatre held their innings together.

Left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla came into the attack in the 22nd over as Chandigarh aimed to break the Mhatre-Musheer partnership.

Mhatre hoisted Birla for a massive six in the 24th over as Mumbai got some momentum going closing in on lunch as they reached 65/1 while the vice-captain reached 46.

Musheer struck his first boundary off Dhanda in the 25th over and the four came off the 56th ball that he faced.

After a well-made 48, Mhatre was bowled by Dhanda as Chandigarh hit back bringing skipper Siddhesh Lad into the middle.

Mumbai went into lunch at 84/2 in 30 overs with Musheer batting on 26 and captain Lad on five.

Thereafter, Musheer steadied the ship for Mumbai as he struck a timely fifty by nudging a single to long off in Birla’s over.

The fifty came off 117 balls with three fours as Mumbai reached 120/2 in 46 overs.

Musheer and Lad brought up their 50-run partnership in 132 balls as Mumbai reached 122/2.

Musheer was eventually out for 65 in 149 balls with four boundaries as Mumbai were at 142/3 in 54.2 overs. He was caught behind by wicket-keeper Akshit Rana off Dhanda that brought a promising innings to an end.

It brought to end a 65-run partnership that came of 165 balls with Lad batting on 24.

Rohit Dhanda struck again when he had Sarfaraz Khan trapped leg before as Mumbai slumped to 144/4 in 56.1 overs.

At tea, Mumbai reached 153/4 in 57 overs with Lad on 29 and new batter Akash Anand on five.

Anand was out for 22 after chipping in with a quickfire 22 off 34 balls as Mumbai slipped to 184/5 in 67.4 overs.

Skipper Lad was holding fort on 42 off 127 balls with Mumbai aiming to get to a respectable start.

Mumbai reached 214/5 in 76 overs while Lad cracked a fifty to reach 56 in 149 balls.