Mumbai bowlers struggle to keep Karnataka in check

Another torrid day with the ball for Mumbai left their chances of an outright victory a distant dream, halfway through the their last Ranji Trophy Group A game against defending champions Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The visitors had a near perfect day - their bowlers wrapped up Mumbai's last five wickets for less than hundred runs before the top order, led by R Samarth, built a foundation for the first innings.

Mumbai came into the game with the daunting task of needing at least six points against Karnataka. They had asked for a spinner-friendly track to boost their chances of a place in the knockouts. Though the pitch at the Wankhede doesn't have its typical greenish look, the surface is so hard, it has played like a flat track.

This meant Mumbai's bowlers had to put up a much better display on the home track, which has not worked to their advantage in the season. In their first two home games, Mumbai bowlers had managed to pick just 22 wickets at 46.77. For them to better their record, they needed to strike early.

Shardul Thakur and Balwinder Singh Sandhu couldn't bother Samarth and Robin Uthappa in the 27-minute session before lunch. After the break, however, Thakur bowled more accurately and managed to beat Samarth for pace and bowled one that thudded into his pads.

Umpire Anil Chaudhary took a long time to raise his finger but quickly referred the decision to match referee and third umpire Basant Mohapatra to check if Thakur had overstepped. The replays concluded that it was a no-ball and Samarth had a reprieve. This was the second instance, in as many weeks, of Thakur missing a wicket after overstepping. In the game against Baroda, he had Deepak Hooda caught behind off a no-ball.

Shortly after that reprieve, Samarth's uppish drive headed straight to the bowler Balwinder Singh Sandhu who bent low and claimed the catch but the appeal was turned down by both umpires. Having got a reprieve on 9 and 17, Samarth then put his head down and batted solidly until stumps, scoring 85 off 188 deliveries.

Uthappa played his drives at will against pacers and spinners alike. Just when he started toying with the bowlers, playing reverse sweeps with ease, left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh managed to beat the bat and strike him on the pad. To Uthappa's dismay, Chaudhary upheld the appeal and the batsman showed his displeasure at having been adjudged out off a ball that appeared to have pitched outside leg.

Samarth was then joined by Kunal Kapoor and the duo batted without any trouble. They were helped by Mumbai's defensive tactics. Once they were sure that the pitch didn't have anything for the bowlers, Mumbai spinners - who bowled 22 of the 24 overs in the last session - preferred to play the waiting game.

While Harmeet bowled the leg-stump line all through the last session, offspinner Akshay Girap preferred to restrict scoring by bowling around the wicket to both the right-handers. The ploy eventually worked as Kapoor missed one from Girap that held its line and struck the off stump. By then, Kapoor and Samarth had added 73 runs for the second wicket to set up a platform for Karnataka to amass big runs and put an end to Mumbai's miserable season.

The day may not have ended well for the hosts but it began well as the overnight pair of Siddhesh Lad and Nikhil Patil registered their maiden first-class centuries. Lad started the day six short of the landmark. Vinay Kumar helped him along by throwing the second ball Lad faced back to the batsman only to see the ball ricocheting off the stumps for four over-throws. Two balls later, Lad clipped Vinay off his hips for his 19th boundary that took him to his century and celebrated the landmark with a well-timed straight drive off the last ball of the over.

Vinay got Lad out in the next over with slight movement away from the batsman which was enough for Lad to edge it. Patil then drove Abhimanyu Mithun to complete his first century in only his third game. However, once Patil edged S Aravind to Manish Pandey in the slips, Mumbai knew they would not be able to put up a gargantuan total.