Caution was the key, says Nayar

Caution was the key, says Nayar after his double ton helps Mumbai secure 3 pts against defending champions

Caution was the key, says Nayar

Caution was the key, says Nayar after his double ton helps Mumbai secure 3 pts against defending champions

He came, he saw and he conquered. Mumbai's Abhishek Nayar came in to bat at No 3, stayed there for nearly two days for a double ton and earned Mumbai three points (by virtue of the first innings lead) against defending champions Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy group A outing at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) yesterday.

Abhishek Nayar

In reply to Rajasthan's 530, Mumbai went on to score 625, courtesy Nayar's gritty 243. In his 327-ball innings, he hit only one six and that tells the story about how cautiously he played for Mumbai's sake. Resuming at 155, he looked to play maximum deliveries, so that Mumbai's tail didn't get exposed. Nayar was well assisted by Dhawal Kulkarni (60) and Iqbal Abdulla (64). But even after Abdulla got out, Nayar added another 88 runsu00a0-- with Ramesh Powar (0), Kshemal Waingankar (9) and Murtuza Hussain (2 not out) -- to help Mumbai maintain a healthy quotient.

Emphatic: Mumbai's Abhishek Nayar celebrates his double ton. Pics/Atul
Kamble

"In this inning, I had to check myself and never went for dangerous shots. In a sense, it was a mature knock and I was enjoying my game out in the middle," Nayar said after theu00a0 match. The southpaw, who had two surgeries -- right wrist and right ankle -- in the past five months, came back with a bang in the domestic circuit and that has erased the doubts in his mind. "I had a point to prove to myself that even after two surgeries, I could bat like the way I used to. And so, this innings has given me the confidence to do better in the rest of the games," he felt. Of the Rajasthan bowlers, Pankaj Singh claimed five wickets.