Debutant pacer Rohan Raje and spinner Iqbal Abdullah restrict Railways to 201 and put Mumbai on top.
A sombre mood had set in on Mumbai team on Tuesday when three of its main bowlers Ajit Agarkar, Avishkar Salvi and Abhishek Nayar were injured and ruled out of the Ranji Trophy tie against Railways that began here at the BKC ground on Wednesday.
Even skipper Wasim Jaffer had expressed his disappointment at missing out on services of three main players.
However on Wednesday, Jaffer gambled by playing debutant seamer Rohan Raje and went in with three spinners. And it paid off. Raje bowled a brilliant morning spell to scalp three wickets bringing Railways down to 16 for three, while the next two sessions including a four wicket-haul from left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla saw them dismiss the visitors for a paltry 201.
The hosts had lost opener Omkar Gurav (18) to skipper Murali Kartik till the stumps were drawn. Mumbai, however, were sitting pretty at 42 for 1.
Unseasonal rains on the first two days of the week and a wet outfield had delayed the start of the match by an hour. The conditions were suitable to bowl first and Jaffer elected to field after winning the toss.
Capitalising on the seamer friendly conditions, the 24-year-old Raje bowled his heart out with great control and swingforcing the batsman to commit mistakes.
Opener M Suresh was his first wicket, edging it to Rohit Sharma at slip in the fourth over. The experienced Sanjay Bangar too struggled against the new ball and nicked it to the ‘keeper Gurav while TP Singh mistimed a shot that brought Railways down to 16/3.
V Cheluvaraj and Yere Goud tried to steady the ship with a 49-run stand but Dhaval Kulkarni’s fiery second spell ended the partnership with the former succumbing to Kulkarni’s pace.
The Mumbai bowlers were all over the Railway batsman. Even the spinners Ramesh Powar and Iqbal Abdulla came to the party bowling some tight spells. The left-arm spinner gave the ball enough loop and extracted enough bounce and turn from the wicket on a first day wicket.
His attacking field and a consistent line rewarded him with four wickets including the wicket of Prahsant Awasthi, who scored a patient 113-ball 61.
Scoreboard
Railways(1st innings)
V Cheluvaraj c Gurav b Kulkarni 38, M Suresh c Sharma b Raje 1, S Bangar c Gurav b Raje 4, T Singh c Powar b Raje 0, Y Goud c Kukreja b Powar 37, P Awasthi b Abdulla 61, M Rawat c Kukreja b Abdulla 13, JP Yadav c Jaffer b Abdulla 19, M Kartik c Jaffer b Powar 4, A Singh not out 1, V Tokas lbw b Abdulla 7
Extras (b 9, lb 1, nb 6) 16; Total (all out; 71.1 overs) 201; Fall of wkts: 1-2, 2-16, 3-16, 4-65, 5-120, 6-162, 7-179, 8-193, 9-193; Bowling: Kulkarni 20-8-40-1, Raje 14-5-41-3, Powar 14-2-42-2, Abdulla 19.1-6-42-4, Yeligati 4-0-26-
Mumbai (1st innings)
S Kukreja not out 21, O Gurav lbw b Kartik 18
Extras (nb 3) 3; Total (1 wicket; 18.2 overs) 42; Fall of wkts: 1-42; Bowling: A Singh 5-0-18-0, JP Yadav 5-4-3-0, Kartik 4.2-0-16-1, Tokas 4-2-5-0
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