Dighe, Bahutule revive Mumbai's hopes

Skipper Samir Dighe's unbeaten 93 and his 124-run sixth wicket partnership with Sairaj Bahutule kept Mumbai's hopes of taking the first innings alive at stumps on the third day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Maharashtra at Kolhapur on Sunday. Replying to Maharashtra's total of 445, Mumbai were 371 for six wickets at close of play.

Mumbai's hopes at first centered around the second wicket stand of 85 runs off 24.5 overs between opener Vinayak Mane (63) and Sachin Sawant (56). While Mane faced 101 balls and hit eight fours, Sawant faced 141 balls and also hit eight boundaries.

Amol Muzumdar (9) and Robin Morris (11) both fell to Iqbal Siddiqui and Mumbai were in deep trouble sliding from 129 for one to 192 for five. Then Bahutule joined Dighe and Mumbai's hopes revived. The two matched each other in strokeplay and run production and their stand lasted 30.1 overs before Bahutule was out for 63. In a stay of 2-1/2 hours, he faced 135 balls and hit eleven of them to the ropes.

Dighe then found an able partner in Paras Mhambrey and the two added 55 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket off 21.5 overs. By close, Dighe had batted 278 minutes, faced 194 balls and hit 14 fours. Mhambrey was on 18 after having batted 98 minutes and facing 70 balls. All seems set for an exciting duel for the vital first innings lead on New Year's day.