Dighe, Powar frustrate Australia

The second warmup game of the Australian tour, against the Ranji trophy champions Mumbai, commenced at the CCI today. Mumbai ended the first day at 328 for nine off 94 overs. Ramesh Powar (65 not out) and Nilesh Kulkarni (14 not out) were at the crease when stumps were drawn on the first day.

The momentum of play kept swinging through the day. It was an interesting day which had the bowlers dominating the first session and a brave fightback from the batsmen in the next one. There were moments when it seemed that the hosts would fizzle out under the pressure applied by the Australian pace attack but skipper Sameer Dighe led them with a fighting knock.

The ever accurate Glenn McGrath dominated the first session of the day. After the crowds went after the tourists, they were unable to maintain the pressure mounted early on in the morning. The Mumbai tail wagged to the cheering of the crowds and frustrated the Australian attack. Shane Warne looked less than impressive as most of the batsmen got stuck into him. He went for 81 runs off 19 overs with one wicket to his credit. The highlights of the day were a well made 84 by Dighe and an unbeaten 65 by Ramesh Powar in the late order. Glenn McGrath bagged three for 46 and Ricky Ponting picked up two for ten. Damien Fleming, Matthew Hayden and Colin Miller picked up one wicket each.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai skipper Dighe won the toss and decided to bat on the flat brownish wicket at the CCI in Mumbai. The first session of the day was disheartening for the hosts as they lost four wickets for 78 runs at lunch. Jatin Paranjpe made a valiant effort to resurrect the innings early but failed. Warne accounted for him in the second over after lunch. Vinod Kambli soon walked back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.

The lunch interval did come as a blessing in disguise for the hosts. After Paranjpe's dismissal, Dighe found an able partner in Sairaj Bahutule. The duo added a 117 run partnership for the sixth wicket off 36.3 overs. The left handed Bahutule scored 51 off 108 balls with six hits down the fence before being trapped legbefore by Ricky Ponting.

After losing Bahutule, Dighe found another partner in Powar who came out firing on all cylinders. He raced away to a half-century off 49 balls. The duo added 63 runs for the eighth wicket in 13.1 overs with Powar dominating the partnership and taking the pressure off Dighe. Bowling with the second new ball Fleming spelled doom for Dighe, when in a lapse of concentration he chased an outswinger from Fleming and was caught behind. Dighe scored 84 off 178 balls with 14 hits to the fence.

The Mumbai tail wagged after Dighe was dismissed, with Paras Mhambrey taking the attack to McGrath, hitting him for three consecutive boundaries. McGrath came back with a bouncer that was top edged to Fleming at fine leg. Mhambrey scored 19 off 13 balls with four hits to the fence. Mhambrey and Powar added 31 runs for the ninth wicket off 3.1 overs.

Last man, Nilesh Kulkarni further frustrated the tourists and was unbeaten at close of play.