Siddhesh Lad's gutsy innings powers Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy

Mumbai's Siddhesh Lad bats with a face mask on the first day of their Ranji Trophy match against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in pollution-hit New Delhi yesterday. Pic/AFP

Mumbai's Siddhesh Lad (80 not out) once again proved that he is the team's best batsman in a crisis. Yesterday, Lad helped the former champions to end Day One of their Ranji Trophy season opener on 278 for five against Railways in New Delhi.

Batting first on a low Karnail Singh Stadium wicket, Mumbai lost their top three batsmen for 98 by the 27th over. But Lad and Suryakumar Yadav (83) stitched a 129-run stand for the fourth wicket to help their team gain respectability.

Suryakumar scored five fours and a six during his 144-ball stay at the wicket. For Railways, pacer Anureet Singh and left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav claimed three and two wickets respectively.

Suffering from a cold and Delhi's air pollution, Lad had to skip the team's training on Wednesday and wore an anti-pollution mask while batting yesterday. But he overcame all difficulties to start the season on a high. Batting at No.5, Lad read the conditions well and avoided playing across.

"Here (in Delhi) everything is different to Mumbai - weather, pitch etc. Scoring runs on this low wicket is tough and that's why I tried to play with a straight bat. I had to skip yesterday's (Wednesday) training because of pollution. "Today, it was quite difficult to breath while batting," Lad, who faced 165 balls told mid-day yesterday. He hit 11 fours during his gutsy knock.

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