Mumbai : Up and coming Shreyas Iyer scored a magnificent, maiden double hundred while his captain Aditya Tare slammed an unbeaten ton as the duo put the Punjab bowling attack to the sword to help Mumbai take a huge first innings lead of 341 runs on day two of their Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.
At stumps, Mumbai were 495 for 6 in 112 overs, replying to Punjab’s measly 154, with Tare (111) and Dhawal Kulkarni (30) at the crease, with two days left in the Group B game.
Iyer made runs at a breakneck speed to continue from his Thursday’s score of 61 to slam the fourth fastest double century by an Indian batsman in first class cricket. The list includes Ravi Shastri’s 123 for Mumbai against Baroda in 1985 and Virender Sehwag’s 168-ball double ton for India against Sri Lanka in 2009.
Iyer reached the coveted figures off just 175 balls with the help of 25 fours and five sixes. The 20-year-old player, who carted the clueless Punjab attack to all parts of the field and showed superb timing in his strokes, fell for 200 off the next ball he faced after reaching the landmark with a single.
Iyer, who batted for 292 minutes in scoring his third first class ton, was dismissed in trying to clear the rope for the sixth time in his innings by his Delhi Daredevils teammate and Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh.
Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav (78 in 162 balls) had put on 233 runs for the third wicket after joining forces yesterday and the blistering pace at which the former, who completed his first hundred in 90 balls, scored enabled Mumbai to reach 300 in just 61 overs.
Later, he and his captain Tare, who has faced 140 balls and struck 15 fours, combined to add 64 runs for the fourth wicket to completely demoralise the Punjab attack in which left-arm pacer Barinder Singh Sran was the lone bright spot with a three-wicket haul.
Though Mumbai lost the wickets of Sidhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar cheaply, Tare – who reached his sixth first class ton in 128 balls – and Kulkarni kept the Punjab fielders chasing leather with a stand of 71 runs for the seventh wicket.
Podder’s unbeaten 78: Govind Podder made an unbeaten 78 to take Odisha to 167 for four in reply to Maharashtra’s 281 as the Ranji Trophy Group A fixture was evenly poised after the second day’s proceedings at the Barbati Stadium in Cuttack on Friday. Podder scored his runs off 167 balls with the help of 12 boundaries.
Giving him company at stumps was Pratik Das on 32. Medium-pacer Shrikant Mundhe (3/40) picked up three crucial wickets for Maharashtra. With two more days to go, Odisha still trail Maharashtra by 114 runs with six wickets in hand.
