Mumbai’s Ajinkya Rahane combined with Akash Anand to take the team’s total past 400 against Chhattisgarh in their Ranji Trophy cricket match at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC, in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Ajinkya Rahane continued from where he left off on the opening day and went on to score 159 off 303 deliveries to guide Mumbai to 406 for 8 in a rain-affected Ranji Trophy league fixture against Chhattisgarh.
Having retired hurt after scoring a century, Rahane returned to action at the MCA-BKC ground on Sunday, and anchored the innings with Akash Anand (60 batting, 148b, 5×4), after Shams Mulani fell to Ravi Kiran in the opening session.
Rahane started off with a couple of classy boundaries off Sourabh Majumdar to get into the groove. Despite a young Chhattisgarh bowling unit looking to unsettle him, Rahane remained unfazed and dealt in singles, while Anand, too, seemed to be in no hurry en route to his maiden fifty.
Featuring in his fourth game for Mumbai, the wicketkeeper-batter Anand played every delivery by its merit and made it a point to discuss a thing or two with Rahane after every over. Those conversations helped as he remained untroubled by the seasoned left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate, who claimed four for 103.
Having lost substantial overs due to frequent rain-interruptions, Mumbai took a cautious approach and added 151 runs to its overnight tally. However, it was a commendable recovery by Mumbai after it was reeling at 38 for three at one point.
With Rahane leading the batting department, the domestic giant managed to breach the 400-run mark. Having played a flawless knock, it seemed Rahane would go on to score a double hundred, but an error of judgment saw him caught behind by Shashank Chandrakar off Sarwate.
However, with captain Shardul Thakur and Anand around, Mumbai did not lose the plot. Shardul hammered four boundaries before falling to Sarvate, but Anand stood firm before heavy downpour halted the day’s proceedings.
With forecasts of heavy rains on Monday as well, Mumbai will have an eye on the sky.
The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: Angkrish Raghuvanshi lbw b Ravi Kiran 9, Musheer Khan c & b Sarwate 12, Ajinkya Rahane c Chandrakar b Sarwate 159, Himanshu Singh lbw b Ravi Kiran 0, Siddhesh Lad c Ashutosh b Mandal 80, Sarfaraz Khan c Shashank b Sarvate 1, Shams Mulani c Bareth b Ravi Kiran 39, Akash Anand (batting) 60, Shardul Thakur c Mandal b Sarwate 29, Tushar Deshpande (batting) 4; Extras (b-8, lb-2, nb-3): 13; Total (for 8 wkts in 130 overs): 406.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-36, 3-38, 4-203, 5-204, 6-281, 7-351, 8-399.
Chhattisgarh bowling: Ravi Kiran 19-5-53-3, Majumdar 17-2-56-0, Sarwate 41-10-103-4, Bareth 12-0-64-0, Mandal 36-5-96-1, Shashank 4-0-18-0, Ashutosh 1-0-6-0.
Toss: Chhattisgarh.
Published – October 26, 2025 04:25 pm IST
