While Siddhesh Lad was rescuing Mumbai from a mini collapse during the second innings of their Ranji Trophy match against Odisha in Bubaneshwar yesterday, his father Dinesh was busy juggling his duties as coach of the Swami Vivekanand International school and simultaneously watching his son's heroic knock on the Internet.
Siddesh's strokeful 117, backed up by some fine bowling performance put Mumbai in the driver's seat against Odisha at the end of the penultimate day in their Ranji Trophy Group C match yesterday.
Siddhesh Lad played a valuable knock of 117 in Mumbai's second innings against Odisha in their Ranji Trophy match. File Pic
Lad's ton, studded with 17 fours and one six, enabled Mumbai post a second innings total of 268 for nine declared before the bowlers took over. The hosts were struggling at 93 for four in pursuit of a 413-run target.
Resuming at their overnight score of 58 for three, Mumbai lost three wickets in the space of 30 runs, including that of captain Aditya Tare. However, Lad and veteran Abhishek Nayar, who came together at 85 for six, arrested the slide.
Lad, who looked to mix aggression with defence, added 57 runs with Nayar and another 76 runs with Akash Parkar (21) to revive his team.
A ninth-wicket partnership of 42 runs with Shardul Thakur rubbed salt into Odisha's wounds and extended the lead beyond the 400-mark.
Dinesh Lad
Siddhesh's father was proud of his son's knock. "It was one of his best innings. I would like to describe him as crisis man because he has rescued Mumbai from a tough situation many times in the past. Today, he held one end and built partnerships with Nayar, Akash Parkar and then Shardul. He played a perfect knock with a proper mix of attack and defence," Lad told mid-day.
The Odisha team, which had a horror start in the first innings after losing four wickets for just two runs, lost opener Sandeep Pattanaik for 13 in the second dig before Natraj Behera and captain Govind Poddar came to the rescue.
However, Parkar struck twice late in the day to leave Odisha reeling.
With inputs from PTI
