What it means: Ashok takes a moment to celebrate dismissing Mumbai stalwart Rahane.
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY
On a pitch that didn’t have any demons, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s gritty 67 (97b, 8×4, 1×6) was the only saving grace for Mumbai as its batters crumbled against Rajasthan on day one of the Group-D Ranji Trophy match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday.
The host’s decision to bowl first did not yield the desired results initially, as Mumbai rode on a 100-run opening partnership between Jaiswal and Musheer Khan (49, 131b, 3×4) to dominate the opening session.
Mumbai batter Jaiswal plays a shot during the Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan.
| Photo Credit:
R.V. MOORTHY
At that point, not many could have imagined that the domestic giant would lose seven wickets for 79 runs and would eventually get bundled out for 254.
Fast bowler Ashok Sharma (three for 76), featuring in his second First Class match, and the seasoned left-arm spinner Kookna Singh (four for 66) troubled a star-studded Mumbai batting line-up, which folded like a pack of cards in the second session before Shams Mulani and Himanshu Singh forged a 42-run partnership for the eighth wicket to help the visitor breach the 200-run mark.
Bowling stump-to-stump worked for Ashok as Mumbai batters paid the price for poor shot selection. This also resulted in six Mumbai batters being caught behind by wicketkeeper Kunal Rathore.
While Ashok turned things around for Rajasthan, Kookna cleaned up the tail. Fast bowlers Aniket Choudhary and Akash Singh also chipped in with a wicket apiece.
The Rajasthan openers saw out the day and will resume at 10 for no loss.
Before things turned chaotic, a calm Jaiswal stamped his class, while Musheer held fort at the other end. He brought up his 17th First Class fifty and looked set for a bigger one before he fell to Aniket while attempting a pull.
From cruising at 100 for no loss, Mumbai was languishing at 156 for six. Musheer had a reprieve on 32 when he was cleaned up by Ashok on what turned out to be a no-ball. However, he failed to capitalise and fell a run short of his fifty.
The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal c Rathore b Aniket 67, Musheer Khan c Rathore b Akash 49, Ajinkya Rahane c Rathore b Ashok 3, Siddhesh Lad c Rathore b Ashok 8, Sarfaraz Khan c Rathore b Ashok 15, Akash Anand b Kookna 5, Shams Mulani lbw b Rahul 32, Shardul Thakur c Rathore b Kookna 18, Himanshu Singh c Lomror b Kookna 25, Tushar Deshpande (not out) 25, Irfan Umair b Kookna 0; Extras: (b-4, wd-2, nb-1): 7; Total (in 76.3 overs): 254.
Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-107, 3-121, 4-144, 5-150, 6-156, 7-179, 8-221, 9-244.
Rajasthan bowling: Aniket 17-3-44-1, Akash 11.4-3-28-1, Kookna 16.3-1-66-4, Ashok 18-4-76-3, Rahul 10-2-32-1, Sachin 3.2-0-4-0.
Rajasthan — 1st innings: Abhijeet Tomar (batting) 3, Sachin Yadav (batting) 7; Total (for no loss in 4 overs): 10.
Mumbai bowling: Shardul 2-1-2-0, Deshpande 2-0-8-0.
Published – November 01, 2025 06:41 pm IST
