Domestic giants on verge of outright win in their first-ever tie against Central Zone side.
So far, Vidarbha players had only heard stories about Mumbai's might in domestic cricket. How only few sides have been able to challenge the giants. But now they are on the verge of becoming one more side to lay down their arms in abject surrender.
The Central Zone side will not forget in a hurry their first-ever encounter against the Ranji Trophy kings, Mumbai, who are set to register an outright win. The Zaheer Khan-led side are just two wickets away from their third outright win this season, having brought the visitors down to 177 for eight, chasing 530, at the end of third day's play at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Vidarbha are now paying for the mistakes committed by their batsmen, who failed to capitalise on their bowlers' brilliant efforts on the first day.
After a disappointing batting display in the first innings, Mumbai came back strongly and showed their batting might to the inexperienced outfit. Continuing their domination from the later half of the second day, Mumbai batsmen went all out on.
Aditya Tare (172) and South Africa-bound Ajinkya Rahane (133) toyed around with the attack. The Vidarbha bowlers, who did well in the first innings on a helpful Wankhede track, found it difficult to get the better of the two.
Tare was the more aggressive of the two as he slammed six sixes and 16 boundaries in his 190-ball knock, while Rahane was more circumspect. After their dismissal, it was middle-order bat Suryakumar Yadav's turn to showcase his unorthodox batting. He reverse swept convincingly and hammered the bowlers at will for a 29-ball 49 before Mumbai declared at 381 for four.
Vidarbha hardly had a chance chasing 530 with one-and-a-half days to go. Mumbai bowlers never looked dangerous but it was the pressure worked for them.
Zaheer Khan opened the gates by dismissing southpaw Faiz Fazal with a beautiful inswinger that saw his middle stump do a cart-wheel. The rest of the batsmen threw away their wickets.
Only skipper Shalab Shrivastav stood unafraid and took the bad deliveries to cleaners. He scored a 91-ball 69 with 15 boundaries before being dismissed by left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar.
SCORECARD
Mumbai 1st innings: 261 all out
Vidarbha 1st innings: 113 all out
Mumbai 2nd innings (overnight 179/1): A Tare c sub (A Kolhar) b Jangid 172, A Rahane c Shrivastava b Wakhare 133, S Lad c Fazal b Jangid 9, S Yadav not out 49, A Nayar not out 5; Extras (B1, LB3, W3) 7; Total (4 wickets decl; 80 overs) 381; Fall of Wickets: 2-306 (Tare, 64.4 ov), 3-323 (Lad, 70.3 ov), 4-330 (Rahane, 73.1 ov); Bowling: S Singh 8-1-43-0, S Wagh 11-1-47-0, U Yadav 12-1-72-1, A Wakhare 24-2-102-1 (W2), R Jangid 21-2-88-2 (W1), S Shrivastava 4-1-25-0
Vidarbha 2nd innings: F Fazal b Khan 0, A Ubarhande b Khan 19, R Paradkar c Dabholkar b Thakur 1, S Shrivastava c Khan b Dabholkar 69, H Badani c sub (H Shah) b Thakur 19, R Parida c Rahane b Nayar 1, R Jangid c Rahane b Dabholkar 13, S Wagh batting 34, U Yadav lbw b Yadav 5; Extras (LB14, NB2) 16; Total (8 wickets; 41 overs) 177; Fall of wickets 1-4 (Fazal, 0.5 ov), 2-29 (Ubarhande, 5.5 ov), 3-33 (Paradkar, 6.2 ov), 4-106 (Badani, 20.6 ov), 5-107 (Parida, 23.2 ov), 6-127 (Jangid, 29.4 ov), 7-152 (Shrivastava, 37.6 ov), 8-177 (Yadav, 40.6 ov); Bowling: Z Khan 6-2-17-1, A Khan 8-2-44-1 (NB1), S Thakur 10-1-46-2 (NB1), A Nayar 9-4-30-1, V Dabholkar 7-1-21-2, S Yadav 1-0-5-1
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