Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer scored centuries to lift Mumbai to a healthy 281 for 5 against Bengal on Day One of the Ranji Trophy Super League final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Tendulkar continued his good form with the bat, hitting a breezy 105, while Jaffer scored a patient 112 as the two batsmen rescued Mumbai with a 187-run partnership for the third wicket.
Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose had struck early, claiming the wickets of Sahil Kukreja (0) and Wilkin Mota (8) to reduce the hosts to 14 for 2.
Tendulkar looked positive right from the outset as he hit the Bengal bowlers all over the park. His aggressive batting also helped lift the run rate in the post-lunch session and provided the good compliment of spectators a lot to shout about.
He raced to his century off 113 balls, but fell soon after as he was caught at the midwicket boundary off Sourashish Lahiri after scoring 105.
Tendulkar's 129-ball knock contained 19 boundaries, but his partner at the other end, Jaffer, was more cautious. The Mumbai opener scored 112 from 243 deliveries, inclusive of 15 boundaries, before he became Lahiri's second victim.
Captain Amol Muzumdar never really got going in his knock of 31. Sourav Ganguly gave him the most trouble with his medium pacers and quite deservedly trapped him leg before wicket in the 80th over.
At stumps on day one, youngster Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 9, with Abhishek Nair at the other end on 4.
Bose was the best bowler on the opening day, claiming 2 for 56 in 22 overs. Off-spinner Lahiri also gave a good account of himself, returning figures of 2 for 69 in 16 overs.
Scorecard:
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja c Jhunjhunwala b Bose 0
W Jaffer c Das b Lahiri 112
W Mota lbw b Bose 8
S Tendulkar c Shukla b Lahiri 105
A Muzumdar lbw b Ganguly 31
R Sharma not out 9
A Nair not out 4
Extras (lb 1, w 1, nb 10) 12
Total (for 5 wickets in 83 overs) 281
To bat: V Samant, A Agarkar, R Powar, Z Khan.
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-14, 3-201, 4-268, 5-268.
Bowling: R Bose 22-7-56-2, S Sarkar 14-2-59-0, S Ganguly 15-4-29-1, A Dinda 16-5-67-0, S Lahiri 16-0-69-2
Bengal: D Dasgupta (captain), S Ganguly, R Gavaskar, A Jhunjhunwala, M Tiwary, Arindam Das, L R Shukla, S Lahiri, R Bose, A Dinda, S Sarkar.
