Mumbai continued to dominate on the second day of the ongoing match against Punjab and were leading by 341 runs in the first innings with four wickets in hand courtesy Shreyas Iyer’s maiden double-century. After their pacers bundled the visitors out for 154 on the first day, the Mumbai batsmen ensured that their team stayed in charge at the Wankhede Stadium. Propelled by Iyer’s 175-ball 200 and Surya Kumar Yadav’s patient 78 off 162 the hosts were 495 for six at stumps on Day 2. At close of play, Aditya Tare (111*) was batting with Dhawal Kulkarni on 30*.
Carrying on from where he had left off the previous evening, Iyer helped Mumbai comfortably seize a first-innings lead after resuming on 103 for two in the morning. While the top-order bat took on the Punjab attack, Yadav diligently held up the other end as they built a crucial partnership to set a platform for a massive score.
The Punjab bowlers were at sea as the Iyer-Yadav pair shaped the Mumbai innings. After resuming his innings on 61, Iyer struck Barinder Singh Sran through the slips to collect his first boundary of the morning and followed up with a cover drive off the left-arm pacer later. There was no looking back for the pair from there on as they pilfered runs off the Punjab attack.
When Yuvraj Singh introduced Sarabjeet Ladda into the attack, the Mumbai batsmen slammed him to all parts of the ground. Iyer struck some well-timed boundaries and lofted the bowler over the ropes as he inched towards his century while Yadav too scored off him with ease. With a single to mid-on off Ladda, Iyer soon reached his hundred and leveled score with Punjab.
As the pair continued to build a lead, Sran missed a tough chance to send back Yadav on 34 off Varun Khanna. A while later the batsman reached his fifty with a single through the off-side.
While they found the boundary at regular intervals the pair also ran hard between the wickets. Iyer and Yadav added 123 runs in the first session as they took the hosts to Lunch in an unbroken 185-run stand.
Early in the second session, Iyer reached his 150. However, a bit later Yadav was stumped off Ladda for 78. With the end of the third-wicket partnership for 233, Aditya Tare joined Iyer in the middle. With Mumbai dictating the flow of the innings, Yuvraj Singh introduced himself into the attack in an effort to create breakthroughs.
Iyer, who was on song, clobbered the bowlers as he approached the 200-run mark. After taking the aerial route off Khanna to collect a four, he reached the reached the landmark with a single to mid-on. However, his prolific stay came to an end in the next over; he perished hitting Yuvraj toward wide long-off where Siddharth Kaul took the catch.
Siddhesh Lad then joined his captain to help build the lead. The Mumbai captain was also scoring with ease and soon reached his half-century. The pair took the hosts to tea at 403 for four.
In the second over of the third session, Mumbai lost their fifth wicket as Lad edged Sran to Gitansh Khera behind the wickets and 12 runs later, the left-arm pacer accounted for Abhishek Nayar to leave the home team on 424 for six.
Dhawal Kulkrani then joined Tare in the middle. The Mumbai captain who was cruising along at the other end posted a century and had found an able ally in the lower-order bat as they extended the lead. Their partnership was unbroken on 71 when play ended for the day.
Brief scores:
End of Day 1: Punjab 1st inn 154 all out in 57 overs (M Vohra 34, B Sandhu 4/31, S Thakur 4/47); Mumbai 1st inn 103/2 in 18 overs (S Iyer 61*, S Yadav 16*, B Sran 1/28)
End of Day 2: Mumbai 1st inn 495/6 in 112 overs (S Iyer 200, A Tare 111*, S Yadav 78, BS Sran 3/97)
