Mumbai seamers seize advantage

Mumbai 38 for 0 (Jaffer 24*, Kukreja 11*) trail Rest of India 260 (Jadeja 77, Mukund 47) v by 222 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The Indian first-class season began with a below-par performance from Rest of India. On a hot sultry day in Nagpur, Mumbai scythed through Rest of India on a decent batting surface, dismissing them for 260 before reaching a breezy 38 for 0 at the end of the opening day of the Irani Cup. It could have been so much worse for Rest of India, though, but Ravindra Jadeja lifted them from 141 for 6 with a mature 77.

The morning session belonged to Ajit Agarkar, who nailed the big fish Virender Sehwag, and Rest of India imploded in the afternoon by playing low-quality cricket. The batsmen appeared rusty but there was no reason to be, for most of them were involved in quite bit of cricket leading up to this game. They seemed to be sleepwalking to their demise but credit to the Mumbai bowlers for maintaining a disciplined line and length. Whether they deserved such a rich haul, though, is open to debate. Agarkar later said that there wasn't any assistance for the bowlers from the pitch but perhaps it was a track not conducive to on-the-up flashy strokeplay.

Jadeja led Rest of India's fight in the evening by batting sensibly, showing up his team-mates' poor efforts. He kept it simple: when the ball was short he cut or pulled, when it was fuller he drove and two off-drives off Agarkar were his standout shots. The pitch didn't offer great assistance to the bowlers and Jadeja made sure he didn't throw his wicket away, rotating the strike with dabs and nudges for most of the time.

The same, however, cannot be said about the rest of his team and Agarkar capitalized on the errant batting. The man, who is easily the most mocked among modern Indian bowlers, is still chugging along in the domestic circuit. Today, Agarkar put in a large-hearted performance on a slightly slow-paced pitch. Now and then, he dropped his bowling arm a bit more than usual, becoming almost round-armish, and got the ball to skid on to the batsmen. He picked up his first wicket when Sehwag had a lazy waft at a skidding delivery that kept a touch low on off stump.

However, it was in his second spell of the morning that Agarkar really stood out for his round-arm skidders worked like a charm. He set up the left-hander Abhinav Mukund with a series of inswingers which thudded into the pads or went down leg side. He then pushed one across before landing the next ball right on target: it pitched on off and hit off with Mukund leaving a gaping hole between bat and pad.

For Rest of India, M Vijay was subdued and never looked fluent though he tried hard to fight his way out of trouble. Twice he was hit on the pad while moving forward - he was lucky to survive the second lbw shout against Dhawal Kulkarni - and he also was beaten outside off. In between, he unfurled a lovely off-drive against Rahil Sheikh but fell to a soft dismissal when he turned Kulkarni straight to square leg.

Mukund, though, was positive from the word go, slashing anything short of length outside off and driving at every opportunity that came by till Agarkar won the contest with a lovely curving delivery.

Rest of India continued to tumble in the second session with some careless batting. The first to go was Manoj Tiwary. He had been pushing and prodding but he suddenly decided to leave a delivery from Kulkarni. It was a brain freeze. Kulkarni had been getting the ball to dart in and Tiwary had no reason for not attempting to play with the bat. He sported a wry smile, suggesting he thought he had given a raw deal, but the replays suggested otherwise.

Like Tiwary, Badrinath also looked upset at being given out but the umpire was proven right by replays. He had stretched forward to defend a length delivery that straightened from the otherwise unimpressive Sheikh, but he pushed outside the line and missed; the ball would have hit the off stump.

The misery was complete when Wriddhiman Saha, a good keeper and a decent bat, swatted Ramesh Powar, who as ever operated shrewdly, teasing the batsmen with his loopy flight, straight to a man placed at deep midwicket. Luckily, for Rest of India, Jadeja found unlikely support from Munaf Patel to prop up their total.

When they bowled, Sreesanth was impressive in his short spell, getting the ball to move both ways, but Munaf Patel drifted towards the pads to allow Mumbai a bright start.