Teenaged opener Ayush Mhatre compiled his maiden hundred in first-class cricket after an excellent performance by the bowlers as defending champions Mumbai dominated Maharashtra to take opening day honours in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Mumbai on Friday. (More Cricket News)
Mhatre, 17, and playing in only his third match, struck an unbeaten 127, decorating his knock with 17 fours and three sixes while facing 163 balls.
His innings powered Mumbai to a strong 220 for three at stumps on the first day.
Opting to bat first, Maharashtra were bowled out for a meagre 126 in their first innings with left-arm spinner Shams Mulani returning fine figures of 3/7 in 6.4 overs.
The other wicket-takers for Mumbai were Mohit Avasthi (3/31), Royston Dias (2/31) and Shardul Thakur (2/51).
India pacer Shardul, though, gave away 51 runs in his nine overs.
Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad endured a bad day with the bat and was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
Nikhil Naik (38) and Azim Kazi (36) were the two main contributors with the bat for Maharashtra.
Boosted by the return of India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai are aiming to recover from their 84-run defeat to Baroda earlier this week.
When Mumbai came out to bat, they were dealt an early blow with the dismissal of Prithvi Shaw (1) to medium pacer Pradeep Dadhe (2/51).
Dadhe also accounted for the wicket of Hardik Tamore (4) as Mumbai slipped to 24 for two.
Tamore's departure brought Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane (31) into the middle and the seasoned campaigner joined his junior teammate Mhatre to add 99 runs for the third wicket and put the team in a comfortable position.
However, just when he seemed to have settled nicely, Rahane was trapped in front of the wicket by left-arm spinner Hitesh Walunj.
Mumbai were then just three shy of matching Maharashtra's score as Shreyas Iyer walked in.
Senior batter Shreyas got into the groove quickly and added 97 runs for an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership at the BKC.
Shreyas made an unbeaten 45 off 59 balls, lacing his knock with four boundaries and two sixes.
By the end of day's play, Mumbai extended their lead to a healthy 94 runs.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 1st innings: 126 all out in 31.4 overs (Nikhil Naik 38, Azim Kazi 36; Shams Mulani 3/7, Mohit Avasthi 3/31) vs Mumbai 1st innings: 220/3 in 49 overs (Ayush Mhatre 127 batting, Shreyas Iyer 45).
In Shillong:
Tripura 1st innings: 29/2 in 7.2 overs vs Meghalaya (Match affected by rain).
In Cuttack:
Jammu & Kashmir 270 all out in 70.3 overs (Abdul Samad 127; Sumit Sharma 5/79) vs Odisha 1st innings: 15/1 in 9 overs.
In Delhi:
Baroda 1st innings: 249/3 in 90 overs (Shivalik Sharma batting 120, Vishnu Solanki batting 102) vs Services.
