Mumbai bowled out Rest of India for 306 on Day Three to enhance their stranglehold on the Irani Cup at Brabourne Stadium here on Tuesday.
Mumbai bowled out Rest of India for 306 on Day Three to enhance their stranglehold on the Irani Cup at Brabourne Stadium here on Tuesday.
The Ranji champions opted not to enforce the follow on. They lost opener Akhil Herwadkar early in the second innings but were in firm control, leading by 299 runs with nine wickets in hand.
The home bowlers struck at regular intervals with only Karun Nair (94) putting up a fight. Starting the day at 36/1, Shardul Thakur (1/61) dismissed Faiz Fazal (28) early and Abhishek Nayar (3/35) later removed Jayant Yadav (46) to end a brief partnership of 55 with Sudip Chatterjee (23) for the fourth wicket.
Yadav was looking good at the crease but fell four runs short of his half century to pave the way for a minor collapse. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla (2/62) then reduced RoI to 128/5 at lunch by sending Chatterjee and skipper Naman Ojha (2) back in quick time.
After lunch, Nair launched the repair work with Sheldon Jackson (37) and tailender Jaydev Unadkat (48). Nair added 59 and 91 for the sixth and eighth wickets with Jackson and Unadkat respectively. In between Stuart Binny (1) fell to part time spinner Jay Bista (2/52) who also had bowled Jackson earlier.
Unadkat curbed his shots to engage in a crucial partnership with Nair. He hit just two boundaries and a six. Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare took the new ball in the 86th over and it worked as Unadkat became Nayar’s third victim and later Dhawal Kulkarni (1/43) ended Nair’s long vigil at the crease by having him caught at cover by Shreyas Iyer.
Nair toiled for 275 minutes at the crease during which he played 192 balls and struck 11 boundaries.
Ankit Rajpoot didn’t come to bat as he was injured during bowling. Ro1 conceded a first innings lead of 297 runs.
Scores: Mumbai 603 and 2/1 vs Rest of India 306/9 in 99.5 overs (K. Nair 94, J. Unadkat 48, A. Nayar 3/35, J. Bista 2/52, I. Abdulla (2/62)
