Centurions Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar dominate R Ashwin, who returned wicketless in the second innings during the drawn contest against Tamil Nadu at MCA Bandra-Kurla ground
Though Tamil Nadu earned three points against Mumbai by virtue of a first innings lead during their Ranji Trophy Group 'C' encounter at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground yesterday, its premier off-spinner R Ashwin, who has been out of India's limited-overs format for some time now, failed to dominate Mumbai's second innings centurions – Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar.
Mumbai batsman Shreyas celebrates his century in the second innings against Tamil Nadu at the BKC ground yesterday. Pics/Suresh Karkera
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Iyer, who had to be satisfied with only a half century in the first innings, smashed a classy 138 off 124 balls in the second outing on the final day of the match yesterday. Tamil Nadu scored 450 in reply to Mumbai's first innings total of 374. Mumbai declared their second innings at 371 for five on the final day yesterday.
Mumbai resumed on their overnight score of 85 for one with Iyer batting on 56 and Herwadkar on 24. Iyer took his time before accelerating the scoring by hitting a six of off-spinner R Ashwin over the long-on fence. He then smashed two sixes off left-arm spinner Rahil Shah before marching on to 97 with a huge six over long-on to welcome pacer Yo Mahesh. Of the very next ball, Iyer pulled away for a boundary to celebrate his 11th first-class century.
Tamil Nadu were on the defensive as soon as Iyer hit Ashwin for a six as skipper Abhinav Mukund put six fielders on the leg side.
"He (Iyer) hit it on the road and the only choice I had was to put another fielder (on the leg side fence) because I knew no matter how many fielders I put on the fence, he will still go for it. My thinking was that if he mishits one and if we get his wicket, then it would have been 70 for two," Mukund said.
Iyer scored 38 runs off 40 balls he faced from Ashwin in which he scored two boundaries and three sixes.
When asked about Ashwin, who didn't manage to claim any wicket in the second innings, Mukund said: "Those guys bat quite well. Iyer and Akhil batted well today. Credit to both of them, but there was not much assistance from the pitch."
Herwadkar was pretty impressive against pacer Mahesh when he played a beautiful on drive in his first over. He then unleashed a classic cover drive off the last delivery of Mahesh's over. The left-hander also used his sweep shot well by hitting a boundary off Ashwin and later reached his half-century by applying the same shot against Shah.
Mumbai opener Akhil Herwadkar en route his 132-run knock in the second innings yesterday
Herwadkar also countered Ashwin's off-spin well, scoring nearly 70 per cent of his runs on the leg side. While facing Ashwin's 62 balls, Herwadkar scored 37 that included four boundaries and a six. During his 132-run innings, Herwadkar scored 14 boundaries and three sixes.
"Obviously, he (Ashwin) is a world-class bowler. We planned to just watch him initially and later play our shots," Herwadkar said about their approach against Ashwin.
"He (Ashwin) didn't bowl to me with variations, but he bowled leg-spin and the carom ball to right-handers because of the rough side (on the pitch) which gave him an advantage," he added.
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