A satisfied Wasim Jaffer returns to the pavilion unbeaten with 139 on Saturday. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: It?s said that the absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw. This can aptly be attributed to Wasim Jaffer?s unbeaten 139 against Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Elite group A match on Saturday. His innings (lasted 368 minutes and contained 21 boundaries) was a flawed beginning, patiently developed in the middle and beautifully executed in the end.

Lady Luck smiled on the Mumbai opener when he failed to read a straighter from Murtaza Lodhgar, played outside the line and saw the ball clipping the bells. It was the Bengal spinner?s first ball of the match and Jaffer was batting on 17. It also happened to be Lodhgar?s first of the eight no-balls!

Having been granted a ?life? early in his innings, Jaffer returned to the basic work ethics. Patience and perseverance took the centrestage in him and quick adjustments to a pitch with slow and low bounce, helped him gradually get into groove as the day wore on at the Jadavpur University?s Salt Lake campus ground.

If the first hour of the day saw a man believing in luck, the second session transformed him into a grand performer believing in cause and effect. His free-wheeling approach while straight-driving, caressing the square while taking on left-handed Lodhgar?s off-spin, igniting the cover while on the front-foot and cool and composed negotiation with pressure tactics from the opponents were a soothing beauty to the eye. Or may be more. Perhaps the opener laid in his innings a timely reminder for the national selectors.

As Jaffer shone with bat, he ran Rohan Gavaskar & Co. rugged. The hosts toiled and trudged on only to see Mumbai finishing the Day I at 254 for one. Giving the centurion company at the crease was Vineet Indulkar on 64 (9x4). Together they have so far piled up an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 171 runs.

Vinayak Mane was the only casualty. However, the bowlers had no part in it as a direct throw by Gavaskar found the Mumbai batsman short on reaching the popping crease.

?I found myself lucky in the beginning but it was a very satisfying day,? Jaffer said after the day?s action. ?It?s not easy to bat on a pitch offering low bounce. So you?ve to be patient,? he added, justifying his team?s decision to play slow.

It was typical Mumbai gharana at play once Sairaj Bahutule won the toss. A slow, patient build-up to the promise of a big total. No Mumbai batsman had shown unnecessary aggression to accelerate scoring. Instead, there was a solemnly laboured approach to batting with an aim to push the home team on the edge of frustration.

Throughout the day, all Bengal bowlers failed to maintain proper line and length. Ranadeb Bose and Sanjib Sanyal wasted the new ball by failing to pitch on the right spot as the openers were happy to let those deliveries go untried.

But it was a big disappointment from the spin department. Lodhgar, who scripted Bengal?s season-opening win over Karnataka here, hardly managed to trouble the batsmen. Ritam Kundu ? who made debut along with Anustup Majumdar ? and Sourashish Lahiri ? who was lucky to keep his place at the expense of Sabir Ali as the team thinktank decided to field three spinners ? didn?t deserve any mention either.

?Our spinners hadn?t bowled the way they should have. We need early breakthroughs tomorrow morning and the spinners have to play a big role in our ambitions,? Bengal coach Karsan Ghavri maintained.

The fact that as many as four times the ball got faulty and had to be changed, served no good to the fielding side either.

Bengal?s frustration eventually found expression towards the end when Lodhgar started bowling round the leg. It was clearly a negative approach with as many as six players manning the region on the leg.

Subsequently, umpire I. Sivaram had to intervene and cautioned Gavaskar and asked him to keep up the spirit of the game. Soon after that incident, new ball was taken in the 88th over.

Indulkar finished the day?s action with a delectable cover-drive off Ranadeb.