Pakistan-bound Wasim Jaffer gave Mumbai a Christmas present by scoring a scintillating 162 to help the 36-time champions recover from a shaky 27 for 2 to 372 for 6 on the opening day of their Elite Division Group 'A' match against Tamil Nadu in Mumbai on Sunday.
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Jaffer, who came to bat at the fall of the first wicket at 12 and also saw another fall cheaply, cut the Tamil Nadu attack to ribbons with his superb stroke-play to notch his third first class ton of the domestic season and second in the championship.
The right hander, chosen as one of the three Test openers for the upcoming tour of Pakistan, struck 24 fours and a straight six in his 331-minute, 244-ball essay as he completed 500 runs for the season in the tournament, having scored a classy 267 against Delhi earlier.
Jaffer, who also scored 133 for West Zone against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy match at Vadodara earlier in the season and forced his way into the third Test squad against Sri Lanka, was given good support by Amol Muzumdar (39), Vinit Indulkar (36) and Nishit Shetty (not out 52).
Jaffer added 100 runs for the third wicket with Muzumdar, 121 runs for the fourth with Indulkar and a quick 63 in 13 overs with Shetty before pulling left-arm slow bowler Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan to square-leg fielder Sriram and departing.
At stumps, Shetty, who hit 7 fours in his 82-ball unbeaten knock, and Abhishek Nair (14) were at the crease.
Tamil Nadu medium pacer G Vignesh was the most impressive bowler with three wickets for 70 runs with his bustling approach. Tamil Kumaran (2) and Vidyut were the other wicket takers.
Scorecard:
Mumbai (first innings):
S Kukreja lbw Vignesh 4
V Samant c Kartik b Kumaran 13
W Jaffer c Badrinath b Vidyut 162
A Muzumdar c Kartik b Vignesh 39
V Indulkar c Kartik b Kumaran 36
N Shetty (batting) 52
R Powar c Sriram b Vignesh 8
A Nair (batting) 14
Extras (lb 9, nb 29, wb 6) 44
Total (for 6 wkts, in 90 overs) 372
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-27, 3-127, 4-248, 5-311, 6-329
Bowling: Kumaran 19-2-90-2, Vignesh 21-4-90-3, Naresh 15-3-43-0, Kapoor 19-1-66-0, Vidyut 4-0-25-1, Sriram 10-1-37-0, Badrinath 2-0-12-0.
