Saxena shows his mettle

Defending champions Mumbai took on rivals Maharashtra in their second engagement in the Ranji Trophy West Zone league of 1997/98 in the middle of November. The Mumbaikars had already whipped upstarts Gujarat by an innings and 68 runs in their opening fixture at Bulsar. Paras Mhambrey had been quite irresistible, taking eleven wickets wickets with the ball, and Sachin Tendulkar scored an inimitable 177 to put the issue beyond doubt.

Rookie fast bowler Santosh Saxena took just one wicket in the twenty overs that he bowled but it would have been a good learning experience. At the Brabourne Stadium against Maharashtra, the comforting presence of Tendulkar was missed but Ajit Agarkar was back to give more bite to the attack. Shantanu Sugwekar beat Sanjay Manjrekar to the toss and invited Mumbai to pad up. The Mumbai campaign concluded on the second morning at 426.

By the end of the day Maharashtra were already in a tight corner, having been reduced to 163/8. The wrecker-in-chief was Santosh Saxena who bagged four of the eight wickets to fall. Chosen to operate with the new ball in the company of Mhambrey and ahead of Agarkar, he started the rot by having opener Surendra Bhave caught by Rajesh Sutar for 1. Saxena then bided his time before striking again with the score at 96, his victim on this occasion being I Kamtekar.

Messrs. Sugwekar and Kondhalkar added a vital 66 for the sixth wicket but Saxena terminated the nascent promise of that association by removing the wicketkeeper Kondhalkar for 29. And followed it up by castling S Inamdar for nought. Maharashtra subsided on the third day for 201, Saxena producing the figures of 4/61 from 14 overs.

Although Mumbai were well within their rights to enforce the follow-on, they chose not to, piling up 208/3 in their second knock before declaring. Their opponents collapsed dramatically to 92/9 before the day was out. Saxena's services were not required as he bowled just five overs without taking a wicket. The best part of the damage was carried out by Agarkar and Nilesh Kulkarni who bagged four wickets apiece as Mumbai completed a thumping 311 run victory.

Saxena had however demonstrated by his fiery spell in the first innings thet he could more then hold his own with the big boys in this, his first full season in the Ranji Trophy.