Ranji Trophy 2022 Final, Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh, Day 1, Top Performances: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 78, Anubhav Agarwal’s 2/56 and Sarfraz Khan’s 40* are top three performances.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 248-5 (Jaiswal 78, Shaw 47, Sarfaraz 40*, Jain 2-31, Agarwal 2-56) against Madhya Pradesh on Day 1
Cricket pundits and fans across India were geared up to watch the exciting Ranji Trophy 2022 final between two cricketing forces – Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh. After 23 years, Madhya Pradesh made it to Ranji Trophy final; also this is only the second final they are playing in Ranji Trophy. However, their opponents Mumbai are playing their 47th final in an attempt to win their 42nd Ranji Trophy title.
Mumbai skipper Prithvi Shaw won the toss and chose to bat first at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Mumbai played the same playing eleven as the previous game, whereas Karnataka made one change in their playing eleven as left-hand all-rounder Parth Sahani replaced pacer Puneet Datey.
Top Performances from Day 1 of Ranji Trophy 2022 Final between Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh.
Mumbai got a promising start, Yashavi Jaiswal made 78
Mumbai openers – Yashaswi Jaiswal and Prithvi Shaw – bestowed a brisk start to the innings. Shaw and Jaiswal started to deal in boundaries from early in the innings. Jaiswal slammed a boundary and a six off spinner Kumar Kartikeya, also his partner Shaw cracked two boundaries in an over bowled by Gaurav Yadav. The opening duo helped their side to 50 in just 16 overs.
Both openers continued to pummel boundaries off opponent bowlers, however, Shaw got bowled by pacer Anubhav Agarwal and missed his half-century. Agarwal brought back the ball towards the batter which sneaked through the gap between bat and pad to dislodge the stumps. Shaw made 47 runs off 79 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and one gigantic six.
After an 87-run stand between Jaiswal and Shaw, Arman Jaffer joined Jaiswal in the middle. Mumbai lost two more wickets in the form of Jaffer and Suved Parkar in the space of a few overs, though Jaiswal continue to garner runs from the other end. He completed his fifty off 129 deliveries. Jaiswal continued to smack boundaries against Gaurav Yadav. He clobbered two boundaries in one over of Yadav.
However, Jaiswal got out against the run of play. Jaiswal went for a drive off a delivery outside off stump bowled by Agarwal but it resulted in an edge and the ball was caught by Yash Dubey at gully.
Anubhav Agarwal halts Mumbai’s progress with two wickets
Right-arm pacer Anubhav Agarwal was playing only his fourth first-class match, however, he sent back two in-form Mumbai batters back to the hut. First, he clean bowled Shaw with a beautiful in-swinger when the latter was approaching his fifty. With the wicket of Shaw, Agarwal gave a breakthrough to the Madhya Pradesh side.
Also, when Jaiwal was looking all set for a huge score and playing comfortably on 78, Agarwal drew an edge from the batter and sent him back to the pavilion. Agarwal bagged two wickets while conceding 56 runs.
Along with Anubhav, Saransh Jain also took 2/31 on Day 1 against Mumbai.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022 SF1, Bengal vs MP: Mantri 165, Kartikeya 8-128 help MP reach 2nd Final in Ranji
Sarfaraz Khan holds the key to Mumbai
Sarfaraz Khan, a 24-year-old batter, who is the highest run-scorer in this season of Ranji Trophy (803 runs in five games) again came to the rescue of his side after Mumbai lost their top three wickets. Sarfaraz suffered a close LBW call off pacer Gaurav Yadav, but the umpire turned down the appeal.
Sarfaraz played cautiously from then and made 40 runs off 125 deliveries till the end of play on the first day. He saw his side losing two more wickets after he came in the middle, so he chose to play defensively till stumps. He will look to play a huge knock tomorrow to help his side reach a good total in this all-important Ranji Trophy Final.
What to Expect on Day 2
On Thursday, Mumbai will hope Sarfaraz will add some runs with the lower-order to help his side reach close to 400. Lower-order batters, Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian, will play an important role on Thursday morning for their side.
On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh will look to bundle out Mumbai below 300. Madhya Pradesh will hope their most successful bowlers, Agarwal and Saransh Jain, to give breakthroughs in the morning.
As Bengaluru has weather forecast of rain in the next few days, the first-innings lead will be important for both sides to win the Ranji Trophy title. So, both sides will give their best on Day 2 to reach a position to take a lead.
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