The 2019-20 edition of the Ranji Trophy has currently running been full flow with the matches of Round 03 being played across the length and breadth of the country. Normally, the Ranji Trophy matches kickstart at 09:30 AM local time, however, in the latest development, the games in Mumbai and Rajkot were started two hours later at 11:30 AM due to the occurrence of the solar eclipse.
While the Wankhede Stadium is hosting the Round 03 Elite Group A & B encounter between the home side Mumbai and Railways, the Saurashtra Cricket Association is hosting Uttar Pradesh in Rajkot.
A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs when a portion of the earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the Moon which fully or partially blocks sunlight. In a press release regarding the same, the Saurashtra Cricket Association [SCA] said, “Tomorrow, the match will start at 11.30 a.m. due to solar eclipse.”
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Coming back to the Ranji Trophy fixtures that started on Christmas Day, it was a day for the bowlers- especially seamers- who made use of the early morning moisture and troubled the batsmen across the length and breadth of the country. Mumbai’s star-studded batting line-up was no exception to the bowler’s onslaught.
The perennial Ranji Trophy heavyweights, who kickstarted their 2019 campaign with a dominating victory over Baroda, were knocked over for a poultry total of 114 in just 28.3 overs with Pradeep T of Railways doing the bulk of the damage with a six-wicket-haul [10.3-1-37-6].
After having been reduced to 3-40, Siddhesh Lad [14] and skipper Surya Kumar Yadav [39 off 40 balls] were looking good to resurrect the fledgling Mumbai innings when they accumulated 30 runs for the fourth wicket. But Siddhesh Lad’s dismissal triggered another collapse as Mumbai lost their last six wickets for 44 runs. In reply, Railways too didn’t found it east as Deepak Shetty [3-20] wrecked through their top-order, reducing them to 4-23 in 17.2 overs.
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But, Arindam Ghosh’s unbeaten knock of 52 and his broken stand of 93-runs with Karn Sharma [24*] ensured Railways wipe out Mumbai’s first-innings total and will’ hope to build on the lead when the game starts, albeit belatedly, on day 02. Meanwhile, Saurashtra started Day 2 against Uttar Pradesh at 8-322.
