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ShareMumbai: After Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar equally shared eight wickets among them to restrict Punjab to 259, Mumbai batsmen failed to follow it up and limped to 244 for seven in 80 overs at stumps on Day Two of the Ranji Trophy Super League match in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Sahil Kukreja's fighting 90 and Abhishek Nayar's fluent 53 were the highlights of Mumbai innings. If Mumbai manage to take first innings lead, it would be thanks to the duo.
Resuming at 242 for nine overnight, Punjab added another 17 runs for the 10th wicket to push the total beyond 250. Manpreet Gony fought a gritty battle down the order before he was shown the door by Zaheer on 41. Mumbai had a bad start. Captain Wasim Jaffer was the first to go, bowled by Love Ablish for 4. Mumbai were suddenly 14 for two with Ajinkya Rahane following suit after scoring six.
All eyes were on Rohit Sharma but he failed yet again. Though he was there for 78 minutes, the Mumbai batsman could muster only 25 with the help of three boundaries. This may not be enough to impress the selectors.
Kukreja, standing tall at the other end, saw the stars fall like nine pins. He got some much needed support from Nayar. Kukreja and Nayar stitched a precious 115-run stand for the fourth wicket to stabilise the Mumbai innings. Kukreja had 14 hits to the fences before being caught by wicketkeeper Uday Kaul off Ablish.
Nayar was soon caught behind by Kaul off Gony. Nayar's 138 minute stay at the crease was laced with eight hits to the ropes. He scored 53. Mumbai still need another 16 runs to secure the first innings lead. Coach Praveen Amre felt the task will be challenging.
"Tomorrow they will take the new ball so it will not be that easy but I hope we will get the lead eventually," Amre told DNA from Chandigarh. "We lost quick wickets, but Sahil (Kukreja) and (Abhishek) Nayar batted well to bail us out," he said.
The coach defend Rohit Sharma. "He started off well but a slightly uppish delivery went to gully region...He will be back among runs soon," Amre said.
SCORECARD
Punjab 1st innings (Overnight 242-9): Harmeet Singh lbw b Agarkar 0, L Ablish not out 6
Extras: (b 1, lb 4, w 3, nb 13) 21; Total: (all out; 90.2 overs; 410 mins) 259 (2.86 runs per over); Fall of wickets: 9-237 (Harmeet Singh, 83.6 ov); Bowling: Z Khan 18.2-3-60-4, A Agarkar 24-11-43-4, A Nayar 10-3-30-0, D Kulkarni 21-5-68-2, R Powar 17-3-53-0
Mumbai 1st innings: S Kukreja c Kaul b Ablish 90, W Jaffer b Ablish 4, A Rahane c Kaul b Ablish 6, R Sharma c Sharma b Ablish 25, A Nayar c Kaul b Gony 53, O Khanvilkar not out 16, A Agarkar c & b Gony 11, V Samant c Kakkar b Harmeet Singh 15, R Powar not out 10
Extras: (b 8, lb 3, w 1, nb 2) 14; Total: (7 wickets; 80 overs) 244 (3.05 runs per over); Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-14, 3-65, 4-180, 5-188, 6-202, 7-228; Bowling: H Singh 17-3-41-1, L Ablish 19-3-53-4, MS Gony 20-5-70-2, R Sharma 18-1-34-0, T Kohli 3-0-13-0, G Gambhir3-0-22-0
