The 31-year-old fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir, Umar Nazir Mir, struck gold on Thursday, taking out Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube with such class during the Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai. The right-arm-fast bowler made sure that batters had a tough time with his speed and bounce, as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals for Mumbai. Rohit was dismissed off a well-directed bouncer, having scored just 3 off Mir, while West-Indian boy drove Rahane clean for only 12 runs. Dube got one-upped for a duck, caught in a stray by his friend Kanhaiya Wadhawan. It was a fantastic performance, and Mir is a seasoned campaigner for Jammu and Kashmir in domestic arena.
He is a right-arm fast bowler, with 138 wickets on his first-class debut in 57 matches. There are also other impressive numbers as he has performed remarkably well in ODIs, with 54 plus, and T20Is with 32.
Yet another who stands 6-foot 4 tall from Pulwama was selected in India C’s squad for the Deodhar Trophy 2018-19 season.
The much-anticipated return to domestic cricket of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner in Test matches Yashasvi Jaiswal ended in an irony, as the duo gave away their wicket earlier than expected during the Ranji series match for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir here on Thursday.
Rohit and Jaiswal had come together for the first time to open the batting for defending champions Mumbai, but in a somewhat less celebratory return to the grind of domestic cricket, both were sent back with 3 and 4 respectively.
Jaiswal was pinned right in front by J&K pacer Auqib Nabi, exploiting the clean wicket for an early start and moving the new ball steeply off the surface at the BKC Ground.
The manner of Rohit Sharma’s dismissal was particularly disappointing. He was attempting to hit a delivery on the on-side when he played a leading-edge into the hands of J&K skippers Paras Dogra at mid-off.
Interestingly, the skipper took the field in a No. 9 jersey, normally worn by Yudhvir Singh, leading to some confusion.
The 31-year-old continued introducing himself and cleaned up Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane by snob-nosing him for 12.
The low turnout to witness the India cricketing stars was hampered further when those in the surrounding buildings who glued to their offices soon returned after Rohit was dismissed at 37.