Bowlers put Mumbai in driver's seat

Discarded India seamer Ajit Agarkar (three for 45) and young medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (two for 33) put Mumbai in the driver's seat against Rest of India on the first day of the Irani Trophy match at VCA stadium, here today. Rest of India could manage a meagre 260 in their first innings thanks to a fighting half-century by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Mumbai started their reply positively ending the day at 38 without losing any wicket. Skipper Wasim Jaffer (24) and Sahil Kukreja (11) were unbeaten at the crease.

Going into the match as underdogs, Mumbai were helped by their medium-pacers on a wicket that looked good for batting despite some uneven bounce. Agarkar and Kulkarni bowled excellently to return with three and two wickets, respectively. They also got the support of off-spinner Ramesh Powar, who took two wickets.

Left-arm spinner Rahil Shaikh and Rohit Sharma too were among the wickets to restrict the formidable Rest of India line-up.

After winning the toss, Rest had a disastrous start losing skipper Virender Sehwag for 10. Coming back from a shoulder injury Sehwag was beaten by Agarkar's inswing that kept a touch low and uprooted the Delhi dasher's off-stump.

Tamil Nadu team-mates Murali Vijay (17) and Abhinav Mukund (47) then started the repair job sedately with the latter taking an aggressive approach. The overtly subdued Vijay played second fiddle to the southpaw, even surviving a close lbw shout. Mukund played some lovely cover drives and cuts during his 47-run knock that included six fours.

Just as they looked like settling down Agarkar came back for his second spell and struck immediately. Mukund, who had hit a lovely boundary two balls earlier was beaten by a swinging delivery that bowled him neck and crop.

Next over Vijay offered a tame catch to Prashant Naik at square-leg off Kulkarni. His laborious 131 minutes knock yielded just 17 runs with the help of two fours.

Going into the lunch at 96 for three much depended on the experienced Subramaniam Badrinath and Manoj Tiwary. However, their downfall continued when Kulkarni trapped Tiwary (9) leg before. The Bengal batsman shouldered arms to a delivery that came in and was adjudged out by umpire Shahvir Tarapore. However, replays suggested the ball would have gone over the stumps.

Badrinath (13), who had batted cautiously for 81 minutes, was caught plumb in front by Shaikh with a ball that swung in late.

Off-spinner Powar too joined the wicket-taking act luring Wriddhiman Saha (4) to loft straight to Prashant Naik at midwicket. At 141 for 6 the end looked near but southpaw Jadeja (77; 121b, 9x4) got the company of S Sreesanth (16) to stem the rot. The partnership yielded 34 runs in 11.4 overs.

After Sreesanth's fall in first over after the tea break Jadeja, who, was aggressive and positive in his approach, was helped by Munaf Patel's lusty hitting to take Rest of India past the 200-run mark. Patel used the long handle to good effect for his unbeaten 36 (34b, 3x4, 2x6).

The pair added 65 runs for the ninth wicket in just 12.2 overs. Jadeja's rearguard effort was the only bright spot in the listless Rest of India innings. He played some lovely drives and pulls of the seamers and also used to cut shot to great effect against the spinners. He was out to a fine catch by wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant, who held on to the bottom edge off Rohit Sharma. The day though belonged to the Mumbai bowlers. Agarkar and Kulkarni hit the right spots and extracted swing to make run making difficult for Rest of India. Shaikh too bowled well in the second session despite a few erratic deliveries. Powar got slow turn that got him two wickets.

Rest of India will now bank upon pacers Sreesanth and Patel, who looked good during their brief spells during the fag end of the day.

Scoreboard: Rest of India Ist Innings: M Vijay c Naik b Kulkarni 17, V Sehwag b Agarkar 10, A Mukund b Agarkar 47, S Badrinath lbw b Shaikh 13, M Tiwary lbw b Kulkarni 9, R Jadeja c Samant b Sharma 77, W Saha c Naik b Powar 4, S Sreesanth c Samant b Abdulla16, P Ojha c Sharma b Powar 1, M Patel Not Out 36, S Tyagi b Agarkar 6. Extras: (b 4, lb 11, nb 4, w 5) 24. TOTAL: (All out, 76.3 overs) 260. Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-80, 3-84, 4-102, 5-121, 6-141, 7-175, 8-188, 9-253.

Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 17.3-6-45-3, Dhawal Kulkarni 17-6-33-2 (nb 2), Ramesh Powar 17-0-58-2, Rahil Shaikh 14-1-57-1 (w 5), Iqbal Abdulla 9-0-45-1, Rohit Sharma 2-0-7-1.

Mumbai Ist Innings: S Kukreja batting 11, W Jaffer batting 24.

Extras: (nb 3) 3. TOTAL: (No loss, 8 overs) 38. Bowling: Shanthakumaran Sreesanth 3-1-5-0, Munaf Patel 4-0-22-0, Sudeep Tyagi 1-0-11-0.

-- (UNI) -- 01SPB2.xml

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