Ranji Trophy Day 2 Highlights: Ravindra Jadeja takes 12-wicket haul as Saurashtra beat Delhi

India captain Rohit Sharma, after a disappointing first-innings score of just 3, rediscovered his aggressive intent in the second innings of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu and Kashmir at the BKC Ground.


However, his entertaining knock was cut short by J&K pacer Yudhvir Singh Charak.

The 37-year-old batter, who faced 19 balls for his three runs in the first innings, scored a brisk 28 off 35 balls in the second.

During his stay at the crease on Friday, Rohit struck two boundaries and three sixes, sharing a 54-run opening stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Rohit’s innings came to an end in the 14th over when he attempted a pull shot off Yudhvir but failed to make proper contact. The ball lobbed up, and Abid Mushtaq completed the catch.

Jaiswal, who had scored only 4 in the first innings, was dismissed for 26 off 51 balls. The left-hander was caught in the gully by Yawer Hassan off Yudhvir’s bowling.

Rohit’s decision to play in the Ranji Trophy stemmed from a need to regain form after a lean patch in India’s last three Test series against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Australia.

He managed just 91 runs in three Tests against New Zealand and 31 runs in three matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Rohit Sharma, whose poor form must be of serious concern to the Ajit-Agarkar-headed national selection committee, which has named him India's captain for the home ODI series against England and the Champions Trophy next month.

Rohit's return to the Ranji Trophy after nearly a decade lasted barely for half an hour as he was dismissed after mistiming a pull off Jammu & Kashmir pacer Umar Nazir at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Sharad Pawar Academy in BKC, after managing to score only three runs off 19 balls on the morning of Day One.

It was another poor outing for the out-of-form 37-year-old whose desperate search to rediscover his form must now await the second innings.

After scratching around, during which the impressive Nazir repeatedly beat him and even struck him on the glove once on a pitch where the ball was moving around, India's ODI & Test captain perished to a horrible shot in the sixth over.

Attempting a pull off a harmless, slightly short ball pitched outside the off-stump, he only managed a leading edge that J&K captain Paras Dogra easily caught at mid-off.

This is third time this season that Rohit has been dismissed in this fashion. New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry (at the Wankhede in Mumbai) and Pat Cummins (at the MCG in Melbourne) have dismissed the ageing star in a similar fashion.


To accommodate Rohit and the other India stars for this match, Mumbai had to drop their season's success story, opener Ayush Mhatre (408 runs in 5 matches, with two centuries in his debut Ranji season).

Rohit has been in the midst of a horror run with the bat, spread across the home Test series against New Zealand, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.