Image Credit- PTI
In the final league match of the Ranji Trophy at the
BKC Ground in Mumbai, Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for the first
time in his sixteen-year professional career for impeding the pitch. However,
he was suddenly brought back to bat when the opposition, Assam, withdrew the
appeal.
In the final over before the planned tea break, Rahane was batting at 18 with
Mumbai at 102 for 4, when he hit his 52nd delivery, a fast bowler from Assam
named Dibakar Johri, down to mid-on and took off for a single. However, Assam
captain Denish Das launched a throw at the keeper’s end and hit Rahane who was
on the other end when his batting partner Shivam Dube rejected the single and
sent Rahane back.
The on-field umpire sent out Rahane on the fourth ball
of the 25th over as the Assam players immediately took to the pitch in an
appeal for ‘obstructing the pitch’. After Mumbai’s 102 for 5 against Assam’s 84
all out, tea was taken two balls ahead of schedule.
But Assam informed the umpires during the tea break that they were going to
withdraw the appeal. The umpires approved the withdrawal of the appeal, and
roughly twenty minutes later Rahane went out to bat once more.
Rahane, meanwhile, was unable to capitalise on his
good fortune and was dismissed four overs later by the same bowler. He just
made it through 17 more deliveries before getting out for 22 off 69 balls.
Rahane was rescuing Mumbai’s innings with Dube after they had fallen to 60 for
4 in the 16th over. Rahane had already hit three fours in his innings, two
through the covers and one wide of mid-on. 50 runs from 77 deliveries
represented their partnership, which included 30 runs from Dube, 16 from
Rahane, and 4 extras.