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MUMBAI: At the start of the season, Siddhesh Lad and Akash Anand didn’t know what the future holds for them. Lad was just happy to be back in the Mumbai set up while Anand was grinding on the maidans hoping for an opportunity to come by.
On Friday, both made hay by scoring centuries-along with Shams Mulani-to put Mumbai in the driver’s seat against Meghalaya on Day Two of their Ranji Trophy clash at the BKC.Mumbai declared their innings at 671/7 to take a mammoth 585-run lead and by stumps had reduced Meghalaya to 27/2 in their second innings.
Lad ended as Mumbai’s top-scorer with his 250-ball 145 while right-hand batter Akash scored 151-ball 103.
Lad now has become Mumbai’s top-scorer for the season by overtaking Shreyas Iyer (480). So far, he has scored 518 runs in eight innings at an average of 86.33. They were well-supported by Ajinkya Rahane, Suryansh Shedge, Shardul Thakur and Mulani.
While skipper Rahane missed out on a century and was out on 96, he shared a 327-ball 196 run third wicket stand with Lad which put Mumbai on their way. Shedge did his reputation no harm with his 74-ball 61 and was involved in a 123-run association for the fifth wicket with Akash. Shardul Thakur and Shams Mulani proved their worth with the bat by stitching a 99-ball 156 partnership for the seventh wicket. Thakur hammered a 42-ball 84 while Mulani scored an unbeaten 115-ball 100.
Despite the runs, there is no guarantee that Lad will be the first choice when India players return for the knockouts. But he wants to be ready. “I never thought that I would be playing for Mumbai again. (Now) I always play as if it’s my last game,” said the 32-year-old Lad, who played for Goa in 2022-23, took a cooling break in 2023-24 to be eligible for Mumbai this season.
For 29-year-old Akash it was just about believing in his ability. “I played cricket not to get selected but for the love of it,” said Akash, who captains CCI.
He finally got that call before the match against Services-the fifth of the Ranji campaign for Mumbai-thanks to good knocks in Kanga League A Division.
But as he was getting ready for the white ball tournaments, he fractured his wrist during the Purshottam Shield match. Mumbai were looking for a wicketkeeper who would provide them flexibility in the batting order.
Akash was the third keeper Mumbai have used in the Ranji XI after Hardik Tamore and Siddhant Addhatrao and he ticked that box with a century.
Mumbai were taking a punt when they brought in Akash for this match in place of Tamore as he hadn’t played any matches since that injury last year. “This knock was very important for me before the knockouts as I wanted to have that feeling that I belong here,” he added.
Brief Scores: Meghalaya 86 & 27/2 vs Mumbai 671/7 decl in 140.5 overs (Siddhesh Lad 145, Ajinkya Rahane 96, Akash Anand 103, Suryansh Shedge 61, Shams Mulani 100*, Shardul Thakur 84; Himan Phukan 3/144)
J&K on top vs Baroda
In the other Group A match, Jammu & Kashmir strengthen their knockout bid by taking the first innings lead against Baroda. J&K shot out the hosts for 166 and then reached 125/1 in their second innings to extend their lead to 205.
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