Mumbai’s rising star Musheer Khan fought back tears after scoring his first century of the Ranji Trophy season, hours after losing his maternal uncle, who played a pivotal role in his cricketing journey.
Playing against Himachal Pradesh at the Sharad Pawar Bandra-Kurla Complex on Saturday, the 20-year-old right-handed batter produced a composed 112 that held Mumbai’s innings together.
Musheer Khan gets emotional after his century
Musheer reached his century with a single to mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Aryaman Dhaliwal, reaching the three mark off the 143rd delivery of his innings. As he reached the landmark, he jumped in the air and then removed his helmet, his face clearly filled with emotion. The celebration reflected the weight of the day as much as the significance of the innings.
Speaking later, Musheer revealed that his mother’s brother, who had been closely involved in his cricketing upbringing, had passed away on the morning of the match. “First of all, this century has come after a long time. And the second thing is that my mother’s brother died this morning,” he said, explaining that he had been feeling “very sad” for a man who had been with him since childhood and played a major role in his life. “I became emotional after hitting 100. So I cried a little,” Musheer said, as quoted by the Indian Express, dedicating the innings to his late uncle.
Sarfaraz Khan disappoints
Earlier in the day, much of the anticipation was around Sarfaraz, with hopes that he would cash in after low scores in the first three rounds. Instead, he managed only 16 off 57 deliveries before being trapped LBW by Vaibhav Arora. Mumbai were in a spot of bother at the stage with 73 runs on the board for the loss of four wickets.
From here, youth and experience combined to pull Mumbai out of the hole. Musheer Khan, joined by Siddhesh Lad, stitched a crucial 157-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Lad has been the man Mumbai looks to during a crisis for a long time, and once more, he delivered under pressure. Lad is still unbeaten on 100 off 257 deliveries and promises to take the team’s total to a formidable one.
Himachal Pradesh’s pace trio of Arora, Vipin Sharma, and Arpit Guleria kept probing on off and middle stump, repeatedly beating the bat and forcing Mumbai’s top order into a shell while keeping the scoring rate in check. While others fell to the discipline, Musheer showed resilience and application to build a knock under pressure. The young opener showed great trust in his defence and did not let the loose deliveries go by unpaid. He then showed great dexterity against the Himachal spinners too.
Courtesy of the partnership between Lad and Musheer, Mumbai recovered from the early shock and by the end of the day had 289 runs on the board for the loss of five wickets. With Lad still in the crease, they will be looking to post a total that becomes hard for the Himachal batters to scale down.