Youngster Rohit Sharma cracked an attractive, maiden Ranji Trophy century to lift Mumbai to 283 for five in their first innings on the opening day of their Elite Division Group 'B' match against Gujarat in Mumbai on Monday.
The 19-year-old Sharma, who already has a first class ton to his credit in the Duleep Trophy for West Zone and had toured Australia and Abu Dhabi with the India 'A' team, batted in a stylish and forthright manner to make an unconquered 102 after the home team elected to bat first on winning the toss.
Sharma, who made 95 against Hyderabad in Mumbai's previous tie away from home, struck ten fours and a six over long off in his 149-ball essay which consumed 204 minutes.
He impressed with drives to the cover region and clips off his pads while putting on a stand of 98 runs with captain Amol Muzumdar (52) for the fourth wicket in 31 overs that lifted Mumbai from 123 for three to 221 for four.
Muzumdar, who batted in his usual sedate manner before he was run out in suicidal fashion, batted for 161 minutes and faced 117 balls off which he struck five fours.
Opener Sahil Kukreja made 58 in 61 balls with four fours and also put on 52 for the first wicket with Vinayak Mane, but the loss of the two openers and one down batsman Bhavin Thakkar put the skids on the Mumbai innings before Sharma and Muzumdar got together and stemmed the rot.
For Gujarat, off spinner Jayesh Makla, was the most successful bowler with the wickets of Kukreja and Thakkar in his bag while medium pacer Amit Singh and leg spinner Timil Patel, grabbed one wicket each.
A decent start by Kukreja and Mane seemed to have once again been laid to waste with the loss of the top three batsmen in quick succession.
Sharma, who hit left-arm medium pacer Ashraf Makda for three successive fours, rarely played a rash shot in the day.
Sharma crossed the three-figure mark with a backfoot cover drive for four. He remained unbeaten to carry on the job tomorrow in the company of Abhishek Nair (8).
Mumbai also scored at a pretty good rate and were 121 for 2 at lunch and were 211 for three at tea.
The Gujarat attack did not pose too many problems for the Mumbai batsmen.
With Sharma still at the crease and with some more batting left in the form of Ramesh Powar and Vinayak Samant, Mumbai would be hoping for a score in excess of 450 tomorrow.
Scorecard:
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja c Modi b Makla 58
V Mane c Amit Singh 33
B Thakkar b Makla 10
A Muzumdar run out 52
R Sharma batting 102
W Mota c Modi b Timil Patel 9
A Nair batting 8
Extras (b 1, nb 10) 11
Total (for 5 wkts, in 90 overs) 283
Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-82, 3-123, 4-221, 5-263
Bowling: Ashraf Makda 15-7-34-0, Hitesh Majmudar 19-2-63-0, Amit Singh 14-0-31-1, Timil Patel 17-0-72-1, Jayesh Makla 24-4-79-2, Niraj Patel 1-0-3-0.
