Wasim Jaffer staked his claim for a Test recall with a majestic century as defending champions Mumbai punished Railways' decision to bowl first on a dead track in the Ranji Trophy Elite 'A' season opener in New Delhi on Sunday.
Jaffer gave the kind of start that Mumbai had hoped for as he unleashed an array of strokes at the Karnail Singh stadium and seemed set for a huge knock before he fell to the second new ball at close on the opening day.
The right-hander's 157 came in 253 balls, spanned 360 minutes and contained 20 fours and a six.
Home captain Sanjay Bangar was left to rue his decision as Mumbai reached 261 for three, a modest score by modern standards but far from what he would have settled for in the morning.
Amol Muzumdar was unbeaten on 62 when Jaffer edged J P Yadav to wicketkeeper Sudhir Wankhede off the penultimate ball of the last over of the day.
Bangar might have expected his seamers, Harvinder Singh and Yadav, to exploit the morning dew of an early winter. And he seemed to be justified when Singh had Vinayak Mane (6) caught at forward short leg in the third over.
But it was all downhill from thereon as Jaffer and newcomer Vineet Indulkar denied the hosts further breakthroughs with their sound defence.
Jaffer's sparkling century came under pressure following a series of low scores, most notably his twin failures in the Irani Cup. The India batsman was at his stylish best, with elegant shots on both sides of the wicket.
Jaffer's cover drives took care of the opening spell of Harvinder and Yadav, and his wristy on-drives left the spinners gasping.
He was severe on Railways' stock bowler Kulamani Parida who struggled to perform his customary task of choking the run flow with his fast offspin.
Jaffer lofted him over midwicket for a four, and then as if to improve his timing of the shot, stepped out and whacked him over the sightscreen in the same over. For good measure, he followed up with a back foot cover drive to take Parida out of the attack.
Twenty-year-old Indulkar, who made his first-class debut in the three-day match against the Australians, looked solid on the back foot and comfortable while he compiled his 28.
Indulkar added 121 for the second wicket with Jaffer but the most decisive stand was the third between Jaffer and Muzumdar whose 134-run association came to an end in the twilight.
The scoring picked up momentum towards close as the two batsmen looked to draw mileage out of the old ball.
There was a couple of spots on the pitch off which the seamers could get the ball kick from the Boxing Hall end. Otherwise, the batsmen were largely untroubled.
Both Shreyas Khanolkar and Andhra import Shankar Rao were a disappointment and Railways clearly missed the services of Murali Kartik.
Scoreboard:
Mumbai 1st innings:
V Mane c Verma b Harvinder 6
W Jaffer c Wankhede b Yadav 157
V Indulkar c Wankhede b Harvinder 28
A Muzumdar not out 62
Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-1) 8
Total (for 3 wkts in 89.5 overs) 261
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-127, 3-261.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 20-4-40-2, J P Yadav 18.5-5-44-1, S Bangar 17-6-32-0, Shankar Rao 18-3-57-0, K Parida 14-1-71-0, S Khanolkar 2-0-16-0.
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