Ton-up raina puts rest in control

[1]

Suresh Raina smashed his 11th first class ton to power Rest of India to 526 in 130.1 overs against hosts Mumbai on Day Two of the Irani Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

The left hander scored 134 (169b, 14x4, 5x6) during his 292-minute stay at the crease to pile on the runs along with Abhimanyu Mithun (51).
Wasim Jaffer 80 (126b, 174 min, 11x4, 1x6) and Ajinkya Rahane (55 batting) scored half-centuries to take Mumbai to 155/2 at stumps, after losing Aditya Tare (6) early. The pair put on 132 runs for the second wicket before S. Sreesanth ended an elegant knock from Jaffer.
Sreesanth who was punished early on by Jaffer, removed him in his third spell after inducing a thin edge from Jaffer’s bat through to wicketkeeper Ambati Rayudu.
Earlier, Raina, starting the day at 36, was left to play with the tail again. The left hander was on 38 when Harbhajan Singh (16) fell.
Mithun hung in there initially and started playing his shots later to provide good support to Raina. The duo put on 153 runs in 172 balls for the seventh wicket to take RoI past magical 500-run mark.
Mumbai’s bowling was ordinary in the first session and they got the treatment from Raina and Mithun. The pitch had settled down to make batting easy and the bowling line-up lacked bite.
Mumbai’s leading bowler Dhawal Kulkarni went for runs after getting rid of Harbhajan early while Shardul Thakur was wayward. Javed Khan and Abhishek Nayar never looked threatening.
Left arm spinner Ankeet Chavan who went for a few early on, emerged the pick of the bowlers with 3/56 in 8.1 overs. He broke the partnership trapping Mithun in front immediately after lunch after fellow spinner Vishal Dabholkar’s first over post lunch yielded 17 runs.
Dabholkar dismissed Pragyan Ojha early, forcing Raina to accumulate quick runs. But Raina picked Thakur at long on after he had despatched Chavan over midwicket for six of the previous ball. Ishwar Pandey holed out to Ajinkya Rahane at long on off Chavan. RoI folded 32 minutes after lunch.
Mumbai opened with Jaffer and wicketkeeper Tare. Rayudu took the gloves for Rest of India as regular wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha didn’t take the field. Saha had a bruised rib after he was hit by a Kulkarni bouncer on Tuesday. Tare was held at gully by Manoj Tiwary off Ishwar Pandey.
Mumbai still trail by 371 runs with specialist batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and the in-form Nayar to follow. Shardul Thakur (4 batting) came in as night watchman.