India's Ranji Trophy witnesses the disheartening comeback of its star players

No matter the city, whether Mumbai, Bengaluru or Rajkot, the majority of the harm was inflicted during the morning session. The J&K pacers proved to be too much for the Mumbai batsmen to handle. Similarly, in other matches taking place, the storyline remained the same.

Rohit might have had visions of Melbourne, where Pat Cummins saw the back of him. Falling to an identical dismissal like the first innings of the MCG Test match, Rohit holed out playing a half-pull, caught in an ungainly position, his feet still in the air when the ball bounced off his top edge. Only this time, the bowler dismissed him was Jammu and Kashmir’s right-arm quick Umar Nazir; the Indian captain’s first essay on Ranji return after nearly ten years lasted less than half an hour and only 19 deliveries.

Given the anticipation surrounding his return, Rohit’s outing in Mumbai colours was hugely anti-climactic. A few hundred plastic chairs inside the Sharad Pawar academy ground were fully occupied, even if they offered a view from square of the wicket. The common areas in the nearby commercial offices in BKC, home to some big financial houses, had turned into viewing galleries. Once Rohit was dismissed, the crowd dwindled.

Against Cummins, Rohit had failed to swivel pull and dragged the ball from outside off to mid-on. Here, he was so late, surprised by the extra bounce that the ball spooned up straight to mid-off. The larger point being that one of the game’s best pullers has been repeatedly caught in two minds while playing one of his favourite shots.

In the lead-up to the dismissal, the J&K pacers bowled disciplined off-stump lines, extracting every bit of assistance from the early morning nip at the Sharad Pawar Academy. “What I had in mind was to bowl fuller than good length because the red-soil pitch offers bounce. In cricket, if you bowl a good ball, you can get any batter out,” Umar said after the day’s play.

Pressed to answer, if he was his best wicket ever, the experienced pacer quickly replied, “Obviously.” Umar, being a Rohit fan, did not celebrate the dismissal but it clearly meant a lot to him.

Rohit still enjoys reverence for his past exploits. But the present has been discomforting. After he dropped out of the Sydney Test, aggregating 31 runs in three Test matches in Australia, Rohit took the mic to say he was not retiring. By playing this first-class game too, he wanted to make a point. But there is little co-relation, currently, between his desire and time spent at the crease.

Before Rohit, Jaiswal (4) was caught at the crease by Auqib Nabi, J&K’s highest wicket-taker of the season. Ajinkya Rahane (12) was bowled through the gate by Umar. Shreyas Iyer (11) played an expansive stroke and holed out to long on. In 33.2 overs, the star-studded Mumbai lineup was cleaned up by J&K fast bowlers for 120. Shardul Thakur’s counter-attacking fifty and some disciplined bowling in reply kept the defending champions in the match, but the visitors are already 54 runs ahead with 3 first-innings wickets still in hand.

Down south, Punjab’s batting collapse against Karnataka was even more dramatic. They were bundled out for 55 on a testing Chinnaswamy stadium pitch. Rookie left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty sent Shubman Gill back in no time after the batter had made just four. The home side have raced to 199/4 in reply.

At Rajkot’s C Ground, Rishabh Pant’s first outing on Ranji trophy return was short-lived after he was caught on 1 at deep square-leg, sweeping left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. The more famous Jadeja, Ravindra had a fruitful outing finishing with 5/66. After Delhi were dismissed for 188, Ravindra could only manage a quickfire 38 with the bat and Cheteshwar Pujara too fell quickly on 6. Only Harvik Desai’s 93 helped the home team close the gap on Delhi, finishing the day on 163/5.

On a day dominated by bowlers, it was clear where the headline act would come from and it was provided by Gujarat left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who finished with figures of 15-5-36-9 against Uttarakhand at Ahmedabad. The 24-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner was in line for a perfect ten, but the final wicket was taken by fellow spinner Vishal Jayswal.

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