Ranji trophy: Mumbai tighten grip over Hyderabad

Rahane slams double ton, Mulani scalps five wickets to put hosts in strong position in Ranji Trophy match

Hyderabad: Overnight batters Ajinkya Rahane and Sarfaraz Khan continued their domination scoring double century and century respectively, while Shams Mulani scalped five wickets to put Mumbai in a strong position on the second day of the Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Captain Rahane, who resumed the innings at 139, made merry with the listless Hyderabad bowling attack slamming 204 (261 balls; 26×4, 3×6) while Sarfaraz, beginning the day at 40, remained unbeaten on 126 (161 balls; 18×4) as Mumbai declared their innings at 651/6 in 127.2 overs. Mumbai’s left-arm spinner Shams Mulani ran through Hyderabad batting order with 5/76 bowling figures as the visitors ended the day at 173/6, with 478 runs still behind.

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Earlier in the day, Rahane and Sarfaraz added 196 runs for the fourth wicket before the captain departed after reaching his double century. Tanay Thyagarajan cleaned the Indian cricketer. Kartikiya Kak then accounted for Tardik Tamore and Shams Mulani forcing Rahane to declare their essay.

In reply, Hyderabad lost comeback man and former captain P Akshath Reddy (12) in the eighth over. He was trapped in front of the wickets by Mulani. Captain Tanmay and Rohit Rayudu (72 batting) added 51 runs before Tanmay too departed to Mulani. First-match centurion Mickil Jaiswal, T Ravi Teja and Rahul Buddhi and Prateek Reddy, all were back in the pavilion. At stumps, Tanay and Rohit Rayudu were at the crease with a huge deficit.