On the first day of the Irani Cup at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, captain Ajinkya Rahane, veteran batsman Shreyas Iyer, and captain Sarfaraz Khan were unbeaten. Ruturaj Gaikwad, the captain of the Rest of India, won the toss and decided to field first. This proved to be a wise decision as Mukesh Kumar took three early wickets to put Mumbai in difficulty.
His first casualty of the day was Prithvi Shaw. The opener attempted to drive, but a strong edge caused it to swerve. Shaw was sent back to the pavilion for four runs after Devdutt Padikkal, who was at second slip, made an amazing catch by diving to his right as the ball was about to fly wide.
When Mukesh defeated Hardik Tamore in the same over, the Ranji champions lost their second wicket. Even though he was moved up in the batting order, he was out of the game after just three balls because the keeper-batter also nicked during a drive. After a careless hit, Mumbai reached 6/2 in just three overs.
Not long after, Ayush Mhatre failed to strike a shot ball and was removed by Mukesh for 19. He misjudged it, and Dhruv Jurel made an easy catch after the ball traveled through a thick edge. When Mumbai got into difficulties, Shreyas and Rahane took over and saved the city.
Together, the two players amassed 102 runs, with Rahane scoring 86 not out and Shreyas scoring 57 before being removed by Yash Dayal. Iyer played with aggression after taking some time to calm down. Rahane, on the other hand, anchored the team and concentrated on scoring a high first-inning total.
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Day 1 saw Sarfaraz play as he usually does, scoring a much-needed half-century to stay undefeated at 54. Mumbai would be looking to add to that on Day 2 at 237/4. The rest of India will be unhappy that they couldn’t build on their strong start.
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