 |
| Agarkar, who wreaked havoc with five for
46 | Vadodara: Mumbai made
a great start to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals as they bundled out Baroda for a
paltry 130 runs and also went on to take an eight-run first innings lead on the
opening day here on Friday. Mumbai captain Paras
Mhambrey put Baroda in and the decision paid rich dividends as Ajit Agarkar wreaked
havoc on the Baroda batting line-up with a five-wicket haul. After
opener Satyajit Parab was dismissed for nought, Baroda captain Connor Williams
(25) and 17-year-old Rakesh Solanki (43) put on 75 runs for the second wicket,
the best stand of the Baroda innings. However,
four quick wickets fell in quick succession completely derailing the Baroda innings. At
stumps, Mumbai’s Nitin Shetty was batting on 69 with 12 fours and Bhavin Thakkar
was on three. Zaheer Khan took two of the three
Mumbai wickets that fell. The third was taken by Rakesh Patel. Vinayak
Mane, Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar fell cheaply scoring 18, 22 and 17, respectively.
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final in New Delhi,
former India batsman Sadagoppan Ramesh endured stifling heat to craft a patient
82 as Tamil Nadu reached 252 for five against Delhi on Day I at the Kotla. Ramesh,
opening the innings after Tamil Nadu won the toss, batted close to six hours and
hit 12 boundaries. Besides Ramesh, former international
Hemang Badani scored an attractive 48 not out. The season’s prolific scorer S.
Sriram and captain S. Suresh failed to convert their good starts into big scores,
falling for 33 and 35, respectively. The left-hander
was associated in three fifty-plus partnerships, before mistiming a pull off medium-pacer
Sanjay Gill to Amit Bhandari at mid-on in the 82nd over. He
added 65 runs for the second wicket with Sriram, 62 with Suresh for third and
68 with Badani for the fourth. Delhi tried seven
bowlers including star Virender Sehwag. He, however, disappointed failing to take
a single wicket with his gentle off-spin. SUMMARISED
SCORES In New Delhi: Tamil Nadu 252/5 (S.
Ramesh 82, H. Badani 48 batting). Match to continue. In
Vadodara: Baroda 130 (R. Solanki 43; A. Agarkar 5/46). Mumbai 138/3 (N. Shetty
69 batting; Z. Khan 2/29). Match to continue. | 
