When Prithvi Shaw announced his arrival on the first-class scene with a hundred versus Tamil Nadu in the 2016-17 semifinal at Rajkot, he had replaced Jay Bista in Mumbai’s starting line-up.
Five and a half years later, in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal in Bengaluru, Shaw and Bista walked out for the toss of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal as the opposition captains. Shaw, in a bid to revive his international career and Mumbai’s legacy in the premier first-class domestic competition, has been leading Mumbai, while Bista had moved to Uttarakhand since the previous season after being frustrated with lack of opportunities at home.
In these five years, besides a handful of limited-overs matches, Shaw and Bista also opened for Mumbai in five Ranji games. It was also a rare instance of two young captains — Shaw is 22 and Bista 26 — leading their respective teams in a Ranji knockout game.
Despite the camaraderie, it turned out to be a contrasting game for both the captains. Besides a record 725-run win, Shaw hit a strokeful fifty in the second innings. Bista, on the other hand, registered a pair.
After two years of pandemic-enforced single occupancy for teams in domestic cricket, room sharing is back in the Ranji Trophy knockouts. And two Mumbai roommates stole the limelight in a game that was crucial for both of them.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was playing a Ranji game after more than three years. Having been unable to find a place in the XI during the league stage, Jaiswal was desperate to make only his second first-class game count. No wonder he was a bit restless heading into the game.
His room-mate, Suved Parkar, was in a similar state of mind ahead of the game. After all, the solid batter was to make his first-class debut against Uttarakhand.
Both of them, however, made merry with the willow. Parkar not only marked his debut with a hundred in the first innings but converted it into a mammoth 252, the fifth highest individual score on debut. Jaiswal soon joined the party by recording his maiden first-class hundred in the second innings.
Brief scores
Mumbai 1st innings: 647/8d in 166.4 overs ( Suved Parkar 252, Sarfaraz Khan 153, Armaan Jaffer 60, Deepak Dhapola 3-89); Extras (b 4, lb 7, nb 6, w 1) 18
Uttarakhand 1st innings: 114 all out in 41.1 overs ( Kamal Singh 40, Shams Mulani 5-39, Mohit Avasthi 2-22); Extras (b 2, lb 2, nb 1) 5
Mumbai 2nd innings: 261/3d ( Yashasvi Jaiswal 103, Prithvi Shaw 72, Aditya Tare 57) Extras (lb 5, nb 1) 6 ;
Uttarakhand 2nd innings: 69 all out in 27.5 overs ( Shivam Kurana 25, Dhawal Kulkarni 3-11, Shams Mulani 3-15, Tanush Kotian 3-13); Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 1) 6
Mumbai won by 725 runs.