By Karan Agrawal 
Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s return to the Ranji Trophy did not pay much dividend as the right-hander couldn’t make any significant contribution to Mumbai’s total. Opening the innings against Jammu & Kashmir Rohit only scored 31 runs in the two innings combined which has raised questions over his place in India’s test team for the tour of England scheduled later this year.
More than the scores that Rohit accumulated in the match it was the manner in which he got out which is a cause of concern. In both innings, he got out while going toward the ball rather than letting the ball come to him.
The Pattern
In the first innings, he closed the bat face a bit too early which resulted in him giving a simple catch to the fielder which was positioned inside the imaginary thirty-yard circle. While in the second innings, he was deceived by pace from Yudhvir Singh and was dismissed after hitting three sixes in his innings of 28 of 35 balls out of which 21 runs came in the first 11 balls.
The Performance
If we talk about the performance of other test regulars on day one of the Ranji Trophy matches it was a no-show as the majority of the players got out without making a significant contribution. Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was the first to disappoint as the left-hander was dismissed after contributing just 4 runs to the team’s first innings total of 120 and departed after scoring 26 runs of 51 balls in the second innings. He was followed by Shreyas Iyer who accumulated scores of 11 and 17 in the two innings respectively. In other matches, India’s ODI vice-captain Shubman Gill who was playing for Punjab against Karnataka was dismissed for a score of 4 with Punjab getting bowled out for 55.
The Spell
Amid all the disappointing performances Ravindra Jadeja was the only player who was able to deliver a solid performance for Saurashtra in their game against Delhi. Jadeja picked up his 35th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. The left-arm spinner was visibly thrilled with his performance as he took to social media to post about the same with the caption35th ball in FC cricket.” Jadeja’s first-innings performance was followed by a seven-wicket haul haul in the second innings which guided Saurashtra to a 10-wicket win over Delhi.