Skipper Jaffer stands tall again

MUMBAI: Run-machine Wasim Jaffer scored his third century of the season as he led from the front to shore up the inexperienced Mumbai batting against Orissa on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A league match at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Just when the visitors had made initial inroads, Jaffer took centre-stage to play a solid, yet delightful knock of 125 runs (248balls; 11x4, 3x6) to help his side lay a sound base for a massive first innings total.The former India opener found an able ally in southpaw Hiken Shah, who also continued his good run to make a watchful unbeaten 67 (149b; 8x4).
The left-right combination put on 172 runs for the unbroken third wicket as Mumbai ended the day at a healthy 272 for 2 after opting to bat first. The hosts have gone in with five batsmen in this game, handing the 42-year-old leggie Pravin Tambe his maiden first-class cap. The leggie replaced seamer Akbar Khan while the skipper in the last game, all-rounder Abhishek Nayar made way for Kshemal Waingankar. The way Jaffer and Hiken went about their task, it seemed as if the team wanted to make a point after a below-par batting effort against Jharkhand in the last game.
Even as Mumbai chose to grind and wear down the opposition bowlers, Jaffer continued to be his fluent best. He played with trademark elegance and drove effortlessly through the covers and regularly played in the V. When presented with an opportunity, he even hoicked left-arm spinner Dhiraj Patil for three sixes.
For most part of the day though the progress was slow. The run-making, however, picked up once the bowlers began to tire. Just before the tea-break, Jaffer changed gears, hitting left-arm spinner Patil for two consecutive straight sixes. There was no 'nervous nineties' syndrome for him either. He struck two straight hits to the fence before paddle-sweeping Patil to reach the three-figure mark. A ball later, he carted the bowler over the mid-wicket fence for a third six as if to celebrate his feat.
Only towards close of play did Jaffer's concentration flag. He drove uppishly off the bowling of counterpart Biplab Samantray and was shelled at mid-wicket by Suryakant Pradhan when he was on 120.
Hiken, on his part, was content playing second fiddle. His first 27 runs came off 102
deliveries. In the morning session, the visitors made good use of the bouncy track with seamer Basant Mohanty bowling probing spells and was rewarded with the wickets of Sushant Marathe and Aditya Tare.
Brief scores:
Group A: Mumbai: Mumbai 242/2 (W Jaffer 125 no, H Shah 67 no, B Mohanty 2-33) vs Odisha
Hubli: Punjab 174 (M Vohra 69, Mandeep Singh 32 no, S Binny 3-62, K Apanna 3-29) vs Karnataka 59/2
Ahmedabad: Haryana 266/2 (Sunny SIngh 139 no, S Rana 51 no, R Dewan 68) vs Gujarat
Delhi: Vidarbha 88 (RR Parida 27, A Jungade 28, A Nehra 6-16, N Saini 2-18). Delhi 96/2 (G Gambhir 49, U Chand 37).
Group B: Indore: MP 336/2 (J Saxena 157*, N Ojha 154) vs Saurashtra
Baroda: Services 191 (Y Singh 58, S Swain 62, Y Pathan 3-19; Baroda 62/0 (S Wakaskar 24*, D Mistry 33*)
Kolkata: UP 210 (P Gupta 51, A Murtaza 33, I Ahmed 36, S Sarkar 4-51, A Dinda 3-73). Bengal 26/2 (RP SIngh 2-16).
Delhi: Tamil Nadu 200/8 (R Prasanna 88 no, S Badrinath 26, B Aparajith 29, Anureet Singh 3-49, R Mali 3-29) vs Railways
Group C: Porvorim: Hyderabad 234/3 (P Reddy 99, Ravi Teja 54, H Vihari 44 no, B Mangaldas 2-40) vs Goa
Thalaserry: Kerala 151 (V Jagdeesh 23, S Baby 30, A Darekar 4-54, C Khurana 3-26) vs Maharashtra 106/1 (H Khadiwale 67 *, V Zol 26).
Vizag: Andhra 224/4 (P Kumar 113, M Sriram 43, VS Malik 3-45) vs HP
Jammu: Assam 263 (G Sharma 108, P Sonowal 40 *, M Gujree 5-71, P Rasool 2-49) vs J&K.