Ranji Trophy Final: Sarfaraz's defiant century propels Mumbai to 374, MP finish Day 2 at 123/1

Courtesy Sarfaraz's fourth hundred of the season – 134 off 243 balls -- the 41-time champions managed a fighting 374 in their first innings after beginning the day at 248 for five. DAY 2: AS IT HAPPENEDBut Madhya Pradesh won't be too unhappy as they finished the second day at 123 for one with Yash Dubey (44 batting) and Shubham Sharma (41 batting) adding 76 runs for the unbroken second wicket.

The day belonged to none other than Sarfaraz, who has now scored an astounding 937 runs in Ranji Trophy in just six games and could make it 1000 for the season if Mumbai bat again in this match. His innings had 13 boundaries and two huge sixes --- one over square leg off left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya and one down the ground off off-spinner Saransh Jain.

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Mumbai batsman Sarfaraz Khan on Thursday paid tribute to late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala after smashing a brilliant century against Madhya Pradesh on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, here.

But what stood out was how he managed the innings after Shams Mulani was trapped leg before by Gourav Yadav (4/106) in the opening over of the second day. His batting with the tail showed his new-found maturity, which is proving to be a boon for Mumbai cricket. He chose loose deliveries for boundaries, forcing MP captain Aditya Shrivastava to open the field. The manner in which Sarfaraz has turned a corner since the 2019-20 season (928 runs back then) is phenomenal as he had disciplinary issues early in his career, which also forced him to leave Mumbai for a season.

With father Naushad Khan, who also doubles up as his coach, making him play 400 balls (nearly