Mumbai's Siddhesh Lad plays crisis man again and puts on 129 runs with Suryakumar against Railways
Mumbai's Siddhesh Lad (80 not out) once again proved that he is the team's best batsman in a crisis. Yesterday, Lad helped the former champions to end Day One of their Ranji Trophy season opener on 278 for five against Railways in New Delhi.
Batting first on a low Karnail Singh Stadium wicket, Mumbai lost their top three batsmen for 98 by the 27th over. But Lad and Suryakumar Yadav (83) stitched a 129-run stand for the fourth wicket to help their team gain respectability.
Suryakumar scored five fours and a six during his 144-ball stay at the wicket. For Railways, pacer Anureet Singh and left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav claimed three and two wickets respectively.
Suffering from a cold and Delhi's air pollution, Lad had to skip the team's training on Wednesday and wore an anti-pollution mask while batting yesterday. But he overcame all difficulties to start the season on a high. Batting at No.5, Lad read the conditions well and avoided playing across.
"Here (in Delhi) everything is different to Mumbai — weather, pitch etc. Scoring runs on this low wicket is tough and that's why I tried to play with a straight bat. I had to skip yesterday's (Wednesday) training because of pollution. "Today, it was quite difficult to breath while batting," Lad, who faced 165 balls told mid-day yesterday. He hit 11 fours during his gutsy knock.
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