Off-spinner Ramesh Powar, after saving Mumbai with a gritty 53 the other day, claimed four wickets on Saturday as defending champions Mumbai consolidated their position with a 355-run lead against Haryana at close of Day 3 of the first quarterfinal of the Ranji Trophy on Saturday.
Powar spun the web around Haryana batsmen with figures of four for 42 from his 22 overs, while pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (2-26), Usman Malvi (2-28) and Iqbal Abdullah (2-34) picked up two wickets apiece to skittle the hosts out for 164 in their first innings in reply to Mumbai’s commendable 400.
At stumps on the penultimate day, Mumbai were 119 for three in their second essay. Opener Sahil Kukreja remained not out on 63 while Rohit Sharma celebrated his recall to India’s ODI roster with a 51 off 66 balls that included eight fours before he fell prey to pacer Sanjay Budhwar. Sanjay bagged two wickets for 21 runs.
After Mumbai took a 236-run lead, Kukreja lost his opening partner Sushant Marathe for 0, but a century stand with Rohit put the second innings on track. After Rohit fell, Vinayak Samant followed suit without troubling the scorers. But with a lead of 355, Mumbai remain in command.
Earlier, resuming at 34 for two, Haryana received the first blow when the scoreboard was reading 72 for three. Manav Sharma (20) was clean bowled by Powar.
Thereafter, the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only three of the last six batsmen managing to reach the double-figure mark.
For the home team, opener Rahul Dewan was a notable scorer with a patient 70 that came off 186 deliveries and included six boundaries.
Mumbai first innings 400
Haryana first innings (overnight 34-2)
R Dewan b Powar 71, Manav Sharma b Powar 20, A Rawat lbw Malvi 0, Sumeet Sharma c sub b Malvi 0, S Rana lbw Powar 15, Joginder Sharma c Kukreja b Powar 4, A Mishra not out 18, Dhruv Singh c Marathe b Iqbal Abdulla 21, S Budhwar c Kulkarni b Iqbal Abdulla 1; Extras: (LB4, NB6) 10; Total: (all out; 73.3 overs) 164; Fall of wickets: 3-72, 4-73, 5-75, 6-105, 7-111, 8-129, 9-158; Bowling: Agarkar 12-5-30-0, Kulkarni 16-6-26-2, Malvi 11-2-28-2, Powar 22-7-42-4, Abdulla 12.3-4-34-2;
Mumbai 2nd innings
S Kukreja batting 63, SH Marathe c Saini b Budhwar 0, R Sharma c Saini b Budhwar 51, VR Samant c Saini b Rana 0; Extras (LB4, W1) 5; Total: (3 wkts; 31.1 overs) 119; Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-114, 3-119; Bowling: Rana 9.1-2-22-1, Budhwar 8-0-21-2, Dhruv Singh 5-0-34-0, Rawat 6-0-25-0, Mishra 3-0-13-0
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