Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan registered a fine hundred against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. With this, he continued his impeccable form in domestic cricket and made his case even stronger for a return to the international circuit. The 28-year-old had previously slammed centuries for Mumbai in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) as well. He has went on to showcase top form across all the three formats.
After being invited to bat first, Mumbai got off to a solid start thanks to openers Akhil Herwadkar and Akash Anand. The two didn't take too many risks and only pounced on loose deliveries. They were looking in good touch, but Rohit Rayudu managed to get the breakthrough for Hyderabad. He brought an end to the 60-run partnership by dismissing Herwadkar for 23.
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Akash wouldn't be able to last for long either and was sent back to the pavilion for 35 runs by Mohammed Siraj. Things got a little tricky for Mumbai when Musheer Khan got dismissed cheaply for 11 and they went down to 82/3. However, the duo of Sarfaraz and Siddhesh Lad went on to form a partnership for the ages.
Sarfaraz and Siddhesh star with the bat
While Siddhesh took his time to settle on the crease, Sarfaraz scored runs on a good pace from the get-go. The two took the side's innings forward and punished the opposing bowlers with several boundaries. Sarfaraz maintained a decent strike-rate and soon got quite close to reach his century.
He eventually reached triple figures in style to continue his stunning form. Siddhesh also played the supporting role very well as Mumbai's total went well-over the 200-run mark for the loss of three wickets. Sarfaraz didn't stop even after moving into triple figures and continued to score boundaries whenever he got the chance.
Siddhesh falls after gritty ton
With the day's play about to reach its conclusion, the partnership crossed the 200-run mark and Siddhesh went on to register a well-deserved century during the last few overs. However, he failed to remain unbeaten on the day and Rayudu dismissed him for 104. With this wicket, the mammoth 249-run stand also came to an end. On the other hand, Sarfaraz did remain unbeaten on 142 runs from 164 deliveries to help Mumbai close out the day on 332/4. He has been joined by Himanshu Singh in the middle and the two will be taking the team's innings forward on Day 2.