Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane scored a fighting fifty on the opening day of the Irani Cup 2024 against Rest of India, stitching together key stands with Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan to repair the damage of three early wickets.

At stumps, Rahane was on a carefully constructed 86* off 197, supported well by Sarfaraz (54* off 88), having shared a 98-run partnership. Earlier, Rahane and Shreyas Iyer had forged a 102-run stand that helped Mumbai recover from Mukesh Kumar's triple strike.

After wet outfield delayed the start, Mumbai were put in to bat, with Rest of India reaping the benefits of the decision early. Prithvi Shaw's booming drive was caught spectacularly by diving Devdutt Padikkal in the slips for 4(7). Three balls later, Hardik Tamore fell in similar fashion, fishing at another Mukesh delivery that carried an edge to Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps. Mukesh made it three in his second spell, when the other opener, Ayush Mhatre, fell to a short one.

Irani Cup, Day 1: Rahane, Shreyas, Sarfaraz hit fifties

Rahane, coming off the back of a successful county stint, scored his first fifty in 103 balls, steadily building from one side as Shreyas Iyer fluently scored from the other end. Shreyas scored five of his six fours against Prasidh Krishna, reaching his fifty in 80 balls. However, he succumbed not long after to Yash Dayal.

Thereafter, it was Sarfaraz Khan who carried on the tempo, hitting Manav Suthar for three consecutive fours in one over, and reaching his fifty in 70 balls.

Rahane, meanwhile, remained sedate as he inched towards three figures. His boundary percentage at stumps read 34.88, and 74 per cent of his deliveries were dots.

Mukesh Kumar finished the day with three wickets, but was also the most expensive, going at nearly five runs an over. Bad light stopped play early, with only 68 overs possible in the day.

Irani Cup 2024, Mumbai v Rest of India, Day 1 Brief scores:

Mumbai 237-4 in 68 overs (A Rahane 86*, S Iyer 57, S Khan 54*) v Rest of India (M Kumar 3-60, Y Dayal 1-46).

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