Mumbai's Rohit Sharma during his unbeaten hundred on the first day of the Ranji Trophy final against Uttar Pradesh yesterday. PICS/SURESH KK

How Kaif's Uttar Pradesh endured a Mumbai recovery led by two roommates, Sharma & Nayar

Uttar Pradesh seem to suffer from Roommates Syndrome when it comes to Ranji Trophy finals.

Last year at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, when Mohammad Kaif's men reduced Delhi 36 for four after scoring 342 batting first, Aakash Chopra and Rajat Bhatia who have been sharing a room whenever Delhi is on the road for the last four years, took the game away from them with a 196-run stand.

The script was repeated yesterday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium when Rohit Sharma (113 not out) and Abhishek Nayar (99) another pair of roomies bailed Mumbai out with a 207-run partnership for the fifth wicket on the opening day of the all-important tie.

Understanding
Sharma and Nayar's stand enabled Mumbai finish Day One at 297 for six after rookie Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (five for 64) had reduced the favourites to 55 for four in the first session.

"We stay together, eat together, hang out together, so we know each other really well," Sharma said. "And it reflects in our understanding on the field as well."

Nayar also acknowledged the fact that Sharma's presence at the other end eased most of the pressure. "We just decided to treat it as just another innings rather than thinking of it being the Ranji final," Nayar said. "So we just kept on cracking jokes in between overs and focused on taking singles."

Sharma and Nayar both have proven their credentials with kind of go-for-it knocks. But yesterday's partnership proved that both have matured in a big way.

When they came together, Mumbai had lost openers Wasim Jaffer (1) and Vinayak Samant (26). Ajinkya Rahane (23) was unlucky to have been given out lbw by umpire Shahvir Tarapore when Rudra Pratap Singh's ball pitched way outside the leg stump. Then, Sachin Tendulkar recorded his first duck in domestic cricket.

Unusual innings
With Bhuvaneshwar and Co moving the ball consistently on a deck with a tinge of grass, both Sharma and Nayar had to curb their instincts. And the duo did it to perfection.

"It was an unusual innings for both of us. We both usually score at run-a-ball, but today we scored at a strike rate of around 55," said Sharma, who registered his second successive century here after his ton against Australia for the Board President's XI in September.

"We just wanted to take it easy and keep on rotating the strike before starting to go for the boundaries."

While Nayar's was a chanceless knock, Sharma had his fair share of luck. He was dropped twice by Kaif at first slip, once on 16 off Praveen Kumar and then on 39 off Singh. "You can't expect every innings to be fluent. The conditions matter a lot," Sharma said. "This wasn't my type of wicket, a difficult one to bat on. So you are bound to nick some and if lucky, get some chances. What matters is that I am unbeaten with a century at the end of the day."

While Sharma reached the milestone, Nayar missed his ton by a run. "Right now I don't feel disappointed," the southpaw said. "Maybe when I wake up tomorrow morning I will realise I have missed a ton in a Ranji final," said Nayar, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.