Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube was eager to make his Ranji Trophy debut memorable by scoring a century in the quarter-final against Karnataka at Nagpur last year. However, he fell short then by 29 runs. This time round, the left-hander made it count with an impressive 114 in only his second Ranji game, against Railways in Delhi yesterday.

After posting 411, Mumbai derailed the Railways, struggling at 115-6, at stumps on Day Two. Siddhesh Lad and Dube resumed the day with Mumbai 278-5, and their respective scores being 80 and 35. Crisis man Lad failed to get to his seventh first-class hundred by a solitary run (99, 14x4s) when he was bowled by left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav. Dube battled on to realise his dream. "After ending up very close to a century against Karnataka [in Nagpur] in my first Ranji match, I was determined to do well this season.