Mohit Avasthi, the late-bloomer who made his First Class debut as a 29-year-old two years ago, picked his career-best innings and match haul to help Mumbai maul host Bengal by an innings and four runs on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Group B affair.
Riding on Avasthi’s 7/52, Mumbai dismantled Bengal at the Eden Gardens for the second time in as many days to all but seal a quarterfinal berth with two rounds to spare. If the Mumbai pace unit had required 56 overs on the second day to fold Bengal’s first essay, it needed 22 balls more to wind up the second innings after enforcing the follow-on at the start of Sunday’s play.
Bengal required its younger blood to stand up to the test of facing an accurate attack on a deck with a greenish tinge but it faltered yet again. Avasthi broke the back of the attack in each of his three spells to ensure a third Player of the Match award of the season.
The bearded beast had to wait till the eighth over of the morning but then struck in successive overs to see the back of both the openers. After an opening spell of 7-2-18-2, Avasthi changed ends after a break and put Bengal’s hopes of a miraculous fightback up in smoke off the first ball.
The length ball crashed into the stumps to dismiss Anustup Majumdar – the only centurion of the match. At 74 for four, it was going to be a matter of when Bengal fold up and a handful of the crowd had hoped to see their home team avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat.
Abishek Porel then played a fearless knock to entertain the spectators and keep Bengal’s hopes alive of making Mumbai bat again. However, Avasthi came back after tea and wound up the game by scalping a batter in each of his first four overs of the five-over spell. When Porel chopped a length ball onto his stumps, Bengal was 16 runs behind avoiding the innings defeat. His seventh scalp also gave Avasthi his maiden 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
But Atharva Ankolekar, the left-arm spinner, got through the last man Ankit Mishra’s defence and Mumbai ensured it earned an additional day’s rest.
The scoreboard:
Mumbai – 1st innings: 412
Bengal – 1st innings: 199
Bengal – 2nd innings: Sourav Paul c Kotian b Avasthi 25, Shreyansh Ghosh c Ankolekar b Avasthi 5, Sudip Gharami c Tamore b Dias 20, Anustup Majumdar b Avasthi 14, Manoj Tiwary c Shaw b Kotian 26, Abishek Porel b Avasthi 82, Karan Lal b Avasthi 12, Suraj Jaiswal c Dias b Avasthi 3, Mohammad Kaif c & b Avasthi 1, Ishan Porel (not out) 12, Ankit Mishra b Ankolekar 0.
Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-1, w-1): 9
Total (All out, 59.4 overs): 209
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-44, 3-58, 4-74, 5-126, 6-184, 7-194, 8-197, 9-204.
Mumbai bowling: Kulkarni 13-2-50-0, Avasthi 16-4-52-7, Dias 12-2-44-1,
Dube 10-4-15-0, Kotian 6-0-34-0, Ankolekar 2.4-0-7-1.
The result: Mumbai wins by an innings and four runs.
Points: Mumbai 7 (27/5); Bengal 0 (12/5)
Player of the match: Mohit Avasthi
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