Chatterjee spins Bengal to position of strength against Mumbai

Mumbai won the toss as visitors at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta and did themselves no good over the first day against Bengal. A Mumbai batting lineup that looks very strong on paper folded up against the wiles of experienced campaigner Utpal Chatterjee. The left arm spinner picked 4/48 and sent Mumbai reeling to 182 all out on the first day.

Recently picked to play Test cricket for India, Wasim Jaffer opened the batting for Mumbai with Amit Pagnis. The two have opened in each others' company in various grades of cricket and are reputed to have a good understanding. However, whatever understanding they might or might not have was of no consequence as Jaffer was dismissed by Shukla before he reached double digits.

Pagnis made 43, which itself was hardly a score worthy of mention. However, the fact that it was the top score by a Mumbai cricketer on the day speaks volumes. Three batsmen with big reputations - Jatin Paranjpe, Amol Muzumdar and Vinod Kambli all failed to impress, managing just 63 runs between them.

At 98/4 there was not much Mumbai could hope for from the day. Matters were made worse by the dismissals of both wicketkeeper Amol Rane and Ramesh Powar for ducks.

Utpal Chatterjee then brought many years of experience into play as he cleaned up the tail. Bowled out for 182, Mumbai would have to bowl exceptionally well to reduce the damage on their already battered reputation.

In response, Abey Kuruvilla struck early, picking up the wicket of Nikhil Haldipur in just the first over of the innings. Soon after, Nilesh Kulkarni snared the other opener - Dasgupta. Bengal were 21/2 at stumps on day 1. If they bat well on the second day they could put Mumbai in an embarrassing position.