Saurashtra in full control after dominant second day

Mumbai have themselves to blame for getting distracted in the final half hour of the Saurashtra innings when the hosts' tenth-wicket pairing of Sandip Maniar and Siddharth Trivedi looted 57 runs from seven overs, which frustrated and exhausted the visitors. Then, in a smart move, Saurashtra captain Jayadev Shah declared the innings, leaving Mumbai a tricky interval of six overs to negotiate before stumps. Mumbai duly lost two wickets in opener Sushant Marathe, and Abhishek Nayar, the best batsman so far this season, in the final over of the day, giving the hosts complete control.

Saurashtra had put themselves under pressure after having scored at a run-rate of under three per over on the first day. But today, their batsmen, led by Jaydev, played with a combative spirit, scoring at a four-plus rate consistently. His 135-run alliance for the fourth wicket with Bhushan Chauhan, the overnight unbeaten batsman, ensured Mumbai toiled for a second successive day.

Having already crossed the 500-run mark, Saurashtra's lower order used the long handle fearlessly. Mumbai paid the price for taking the tail lightly as Maniar and Trivedi rubbed the salt openly. Trivedi charged Ramesh Powar confidently, lofting the offspinner for two sixes and three fours in an over. Surprisingly, Powar and Dhawal Kulkarni played into the opponents' hands, failing to bowl a wicket-to-wicket line. Adding insult to injury were the Mumbai fielders, including senior players like Zaheer Khan, who failed to show the pro-activeness to convert the half chances.

If the day ended on a promising note for Saurashtra, it had started in a similar vein for their opponents. Zaheer Khan angled his third delivery of the morning across the bat of a helpless Cheteshwar Pujara. The thin outside edge was snatched nicely by Marathe who did well to move to his right quickly before throwing himself head-on and latch on to the catch with his outstretched fingers. But even if Zaheer had instantly found his lengths and line, and was bowling at his desired pace, the pitch had not changed nature.

Still the onus was on Saurashtra to set up a contest considering Mumbai were comfortably perched atop Group A with sixteen points, and were favourites to make the knockout stage. Saurashtra, with just eight points, had to force matters to gain the maximum points from this game.

Once Zaheer finished his first spell of four overs, Chauhan and Jaydev understood the dangers had diminished drastically. Chauhan, who already had scored a Ranji century against Mumbai during his record 275-run opening stand with Chirag Pathak in 2008-09 season, scored his third first-class century, which he brought up with a lofted straight drive for four. He flashed his blade all across the empty Khanderi ground, the new base of the Saurashtra Cricket Association.

It was the second time the opening pair of Pathak and Chauhan had got hundreds in the same innings against Mumbai. In fact it was the third occasion when two Saurashtra openers achieved that feat in a Ranji Trophy match. Pathak and Sagar Jogiyani had compiled centuries against Bengal last season.

At the other end Jaydev, normally an aggressive batsman, was happy to snatch easy doubles and fours as the opposition bowlers failed to keep him in check. With runs ticking fast, Iqbal Abdulla started pitching behind Chauhan's stumps. He did not mind the wides, considering his sole aim was to make Chauhan impatient. The strategy paid dividends at the stroke of lunch when Chauhan went for the paddle sweep, top-edged, and was caught easily by Suryakumar Yadav at short fine-leg.

Six overs into the second session, Zaheer got the ball to reverse just that bit to hit Jaydev's off stump and pick up his third wicket. That Zaheer was back to complete fitness was the only bit of good news for Mumbai, and a welcome development for the Indian squad and selectors.