Ajinkya Rahane presents the full face of the bat.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
As Ajinkya Rahane brought up his first century of the season with a single, the celebrations were muted. Rahane just raised his bat towards the dugout and gave a thumbs up to his teammates.
Throughout his 315-minute stay at the crease, not for once did Rahane look jittery. His calm and composed demeanour not only helped him score his 42nd First Class ton, but also guided Mumbai out of the woods against Chhattisgarh on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group-D game on Saturday.
With Rahane (118, 237b, 15×4) back among the runs after a forgettable outing against Jammu and Kashmir in the season-opener and adding 165 for the fourth wicket with Siddhesh Lad (80, 146b, 13×4), Mumbai ended the day at 251 for five after reeling at 38 for three at one stage.
The start was far from perfect for the host at the MCA-BKC ground as openers Musheer Khan and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who came in for Ayush Mhatre, failed to get going after Chhattisgarh opted to bowl. Making the most of the overcast conditions, fast bowler Ravi Kiran troubled the Mumbai top-order.
Musheer threw away his wicket in the first over against spin. Looking to sweep left-arm tweaker Aditya Sarwate, he only managed a top-edge, which was pouched by the bowler.
Raghuvanshi was trapped in front by Ravi Kiran with a fuller delivery. He also accounted for No. 4 Himanshu Singh in an identical fashion.
But as the pitch eased out, Rahane and Lad stood firm and played quite a bit through the square of the wicket. Coming on the back of a ton, Lad took time before accelerating while Rahane dealt in singles as Mumbai added 97 runs in the second session.
Two wickets fell quickly in the last session as Lad missed out on a ton, offering a regulation catch at slips off Ajay Mandal and Sarfaraz Khan perished in six balls for just one. But Rahane and Shams Mulani regrouped, before the former retired hurt due to cramps.
The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: Angkrish Raghuvanshi lbw b Ravi Kiran 9, Musheer Khan c & b Sarwate 12, Ajinkya Rahane (retd. hurt) 118, Himanshu Singh lbw b Ravi Kiran 0, Siddhesh Lad c Ashutosh b Mandal 80, Sarfaraz Khan c Shashank b Sarvate 1, Shams Mulani (batting) 25, Akash Anand (batting) 0; Extras: (b-4, lb-1, nb-1): 6; Total (for five wkts. in 84 overs): 251.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-36, 3-38, 4-203, 5-204,
Chhattisgarh bowling: Ravi Kiran 12-4-22-2, Majumdar 13-1-42-0, Sarwate 25-6-65-2, Bareth 6-0-38-0, Mandal 23-5-55-1, Shashank 4-0-18-0, Ashutosh 1-0-6-0.
Toss: Chhattisgarh.
Published – October 25, 2025 07:16 pm IST
