04 November,2011 08:41 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Sharma scores unbeaten 133 with a broken finger; Mumbai 338-5 on Day 1
Rohit Sharma, whose tour to England ended abruptly with a broken finger, was batting on 133 in a Mumbai first-innings score of 338 for five at stumps in the Ranji Trophy opener against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium here. Promising Suryakumar Yadav was unlucky to miss his hundred by 12 runs. Rohit Sharma's childhood coach Dinesh Lad was effusive in his praise for the batsman.
Centurian: Rohit Sharma during a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai.
File pic
Lad revealed that Sharma has not fully recovered from the finger injury, which forced him to return from England recently, but played through little pain. "It is a hard-earned century for him. He took a little risk and played the Ranji Trophyu00a0 in spite of not recovering fully from the injury. Rohit is determined to win back his India team berth. His goal is to play Test cricket for India," Lad, who coaches Western Railway team, told MiD DAY yesterday.
Manoj Tiwary, returning to lead Bengal, was batting on 120 in Bengal's first innings score of 261 for four against Gujarat. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who has promised to play the entire season, made 34. Mandeep Singh was at his dashing best, 100 of his 158 coming off boundaries against Uttar Pradesh, while Karan Goel made 68. Rudra Pratap Singh, who gave Uttar Pradesh an early breakthrough claiming two early wickets, returned with the day's best figures, four for 60.
The other century-maker of the day in the Elite Division was KB Pawan of Karnataka who, remained unbeaten with 121. The dashing Manish Pandey cracked 58 off 67 balls. Paras Dogra's unfinished 174 came against Tripura at Agartala as Himachal ended the day in their Plate Division match at 347 for two.
No play was possible in the match between Tamil Nadu and and last year's finalists Baroda as rain washed out play in Chennai while overnight rain delayed the start of Hyderabad's game against Jharkhand.
