Mumbai’s juggernaut starts rolling

Beat Gujarat by an innings and 163 runs to bag five points and bring back to life their Ranji Trophy campaign

MUMBAI: The Mumbai dressing wore a big smile on Wednesday evening after returning to their winning ways and crushing Gujarat by an innings and 163 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. The architects of the win were the spin twins — off-spinner Ramesh Powar, who returned with a match haul of 8-115, and left-arm orthodox spinner Nilesh Kulkarni who claimed ten wickets in the match.

From the outset, Gujarat didn’t look like a team that would survive the day. The pitch was starting to come into its own and the spin and bounce that was being extracted from it made batting really difficult. In the morning session, the Gujarat tail proved to be no match for Kulkrani’s guile as he swept through to take his first innings tally to 6-31.

Gujarat’s last five batsmen lasted just 12.3 overs in the morning session to be all out for 147 and that gave Mumbai enough confidence to know that they could force a win on Thursday itself.

With Powar and Kulkarni bowling superbly in tandem, Gujarat needed their top order to stick it out but that just didn’t happen. After the new-ball bowlers had taken the shine off the ball, Powar got the first breakthrough by claiming Nilesh Modi’s (19) wicket. The ball bounced and turned sharply as Kukreja took a simple catch at silly point. Niraj Patel (13), Parthiv Patel (5), Bhavin Thakker (8) followed in quick succession. At 5-155, Gujarat were staring down the barrel. Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar praised the efforts of Kulkarni and Powar, “It was good to see Nilesh making a good comeback, so far he has been a match-winner for us. In past he has helped Mumbai win so many matches. Kulkarni and Powar, both are international bowlers. It was very difficult for batsmen to play, they were almost unplayable.”

The one Gujarat batsman who stood firm in the face of the carnage was Azharuddin Bilakhia (88), who had surprisingly batted at six down in the first innings. The 20-year-old from Bhavnagar has represented India at the under-19 level and he coped very well with both the spinners.

But the tea break and a change in the bowling did him in. Amol Muzumdar decided to give Abhishek Nair his first bowl of the innings and as luck would have it, the medium-pacer claimed a wicket with his first ball. Bilkahia went after a wide delivery and paid the price. With Bilakhia gone, Nair was taken out of the attack immediately and the tail once again crumbled to Kulkarni. Gujarat were dismissed for 193 in 76.1 overs. The innings victory ensured that Mumbai got the bonus point from the win to take their tally to 5. Mumbai take on Rajasthan next on January 2 and they will be looking for another big win.

SCORECARD

Mumbai (1st innings) 503 for 7 dcld
Gujarat (1st innings; Overnight 118 for 5): N Modi c Kukreja b Kulkarni 34,TK Patel c Mane b Hazare 6,NK Patel c Samant b Powar 62, PA Patel c Muzumdar b Powar 9, A Singh lbw b Kulkarni 0, BD Thaker c & b Kulkarni 0, AY Brahmabhatt c Sharma b Powar 10, AA Bilakhia c Sharma b Kulkarni 5, JT Makla c Hazare b Kulkarni 4, AM Makda not out 4, HA Majmudar c Sharma b Kulkarni 0
Extras: (b5 lb1 w7) 13
Total: (all out; 51 overs) 147     
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-105, 3-117, 4-118, 5-118, 6-119, 7-139, 8-139, 9-143, 10-147

Bowling: SP Hazare 9-0-37-1, WA Mota 8-2-20-0, RR Powar 19-6-43-3, A Nair 3-1-10-0, NM Kulkarni 12-4-31-6

Gujarat (2nd innings; following on): N Modi c Kukreja b Powar 15, A Bilakhia c Kulkarni b Nair 88, NK Patel c Mane b Kulkarni 13, PA Patel c Mane b Powar 5, BD Thaker c Mane b Powar 8, AY Brahmabhatt c Mane b Powar 32, TK Patel c Kukreja b Powar 15, JT Makla b Kulkarni 6, A Singh c sub (HN Shah) b Kulkarni 0, AM Makda c Thakkar b Kulkarni 0, HA Majmudar not out 0

Extras: (lb2 w5 nb4) 11

Total: (all out; 76.1 overs) 193    

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-81, 3-100, 4-120, 5-155, 6-178, 7-185, 8-185, 9-193, 10-193

Bowling: SP Hazare 9-0-21-0, WA Mota 5-1-14-0, NM Kulkarni 30.1-6-80-4, RR Powar 31-9-72-5, A Nair 1-0-4-1