Ranji Trophy: Mehra exposes frailties of Sarfaraz and Prithvi, grabs maiden five-for

Test aspirants Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan wouldn’t need to watch their dismissals towards Divij Mehra’s navy medium tempo once more. In each innings, Mehra nailed Shaw with the nip-backer, a well-recognized nemesis for the Mumbai batsman. So did his colleague Sarfaraz, whose off-stump cartwheeled within the influence of one other Mehra’s incoming ball for a uncommon first-ball duck. The two pillars of Mumbai batting again within the hut, the document champions reeled to 168 for 9 at stumps, their lead a paltry 92, after Delhi, resuming from their in a single day rating of 315 for 7, added 54 runs to finish their first innings on 369.

Shaw, who got here to this match after scoring a triple century towards Assam, lasted simply 19 balls for 16, as he couldn’t deliver

the bat down in time to be trapped in entrance. The incoming ball had undid him up to now, by Trent Boult and Tim Southee in Wellington) and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in Adelaide. What is bewildering as he plots his Test comeback is that Mehra’s ball clocked simply 121 kph, most likely the quickest he bowled your entire day.

His plan was to not give width. “You can’t afford to give width to players like Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. They will hit you for fun. My plan was to bowl in-swingers, and not give them a chance to open their arms and it worked,” Mehra would later say.

ICYMI!

Divij Mehra scalped 2️⃣ wickets in consecutive deliveries for Delhi to dismiss Armaan Jaffer & Sarfaraz Khan 👌🏻👌🏻#RanjiTrophy | #DELvMUM | @mastercardindia

Watch 🎥https://t.co/22zuolu1oJ pic.twitter.com/AYut9X2rK4

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 19, 2023

After including 9 extra runs to the whole, Mehra dislodged Arman Jaffer, who nicked to Anuj Rawat behind the stumps after putting a few pleasant boundaries. In got here Sarfaraz, the serial century maker whose omission from the Australia sequence had sparked criticism, and who was contemporary from 100 within the first innings. But he, like Shaw, couldn’t preserve off the one which bend again into the stumps. Mehra troubled Sarfaraz’s brother too, the 17-year-old Musheer Khan, too. His tendency to play away from the physique has been a cause for concern. With wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat standing as much as the stumps, Mehra made one ball sneak by the hole between his bat and pad. Rather than tempo, the ball nudged 116 kph, it was his technical glitch that undid.

Delhi quickly slumped to 37 for five within the biting chilly of Delhi, earlier than Ajinkya Rahane placed on a resistance with Shams Mulani. The pair stitched 59 runs earlier than Hrithik Shokeen trapped Mulani in entrance for a 66-ball 30.

Rahane and Tanush Kotian rebuilt, however with the rating at 141/6, the Mumbai skipper perished for 51 to Pranshu Vijayran. Rahane battled to his half-century however by no means regarded uncomfortable. Vijayran beat his exterior edge repeatedly earlier than discovering the skin edge, and Vaibhav Rawal took a superb low catch on the second slip. Kotian held agency however Mumbai misplaced the wickets of Tushar Deshpande and Mohit Avasthi earlier than dangerous mild stopped play. With Avasthi’s wicket, Mehra bagged his maiden five-wicket haul and turned the sport in Delhi’s favour.

Rollercoaster begin

It has been a rollercoaster begin to 2023 for Mehra. He earned his maiden Ranji Trophy call-up, then was launched to play U-25. The day he reached Hyderabad to play the U-25 match, he was referred to as as much as play for the senior workforce towards Andhra as seamer Kuldip Yadav bought injured. It was his unbeaten 55-run tenth wicket partnership with Harshit Rana thathelped Delhi get their first three factors (first innings lead) of the season. Now he has his maiden five-wicket haul.

Mehra couldn’t imagine his luck. He stated: “I took three flights in two days to make my debut against Andhra and now I have a fifer. At the start of the season, I never thought I would get a Ranji call-up this season,” he stated.

The 20-year-old won’t have been within the body had Delhi’s first-choice seamers been match. Five of them—Ishan Sharma, Simarjeet Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Mayank Yadav and Kuldip Yadav—are nursing accidents. But it didn’t matter, as Mehra made his first mark in first-class cricket.

Brief scores: Mumbai 293 & 168 for 9 (Ajinkya Rahane 51 Tanish Kotian 48 batting; Divij Mehra 5/29, Pranshu Vijayran 2/40) lead Delhi 369 all out by 92 runs.