Mumbai were leading by 299 runs with nine wickets in hand at stumps on the third day after bowling Rest of India XI out for 306 towards the end of the day of the Irani Cup match at the Cricket Club of India. While the Aditya Tare-led team took wickets at regular intervals and maintained the advantage, Karun Nair (94) put up a fight as he looked to keep the ROI innings afloat. With the pitch providing assistance to the spinners, Iqbal Abdullah and Jay Bista claimed two wickets each.
While Mumbai looked to bowl the opposition out after leaving them on 128 for five at lunch, Nair found an ally in Jaydev Unadkat (48) late in the innings and the pair added 91 runs for the eighth wicket until, senior campaigner, Abhishek Nayar ended the stand while Dhawal Kulkarni followed up with the wicket of the Karnataka batsman to wrap up the innings with a 297 –run first innings lead.
Speaking about the Nair-Unadkat partnership which kept the Mumbai bowlers at bay, Nayar said, “This sort of things happen in a game. One partnership is bound to happen. It happened a little lower down the order. We all know Jaydev can bat a bit and Karun being there, they batted really well. They play spinners exceptionally well and you have to give them credit (for their efforts). They have come here to play cricket; it’s not always going to go our way. But I am glad that we still fought hard and we came back and got them out and got a decent lead.”
Earlier, Shardul Thakur had given Mumbai their first wicket of the day in the fourth over of the morning as he forced an edge from Faiz Fazal through to the wicketkeeper. Sudip Chatterjee then joined Jayant Yadav in the middle and the pair trudged on, adding 55 runs for the third wicket until the overnight batsman handed a simple catch to Bista at gully.
Iqbal Abdullah who was bowling from the other end then dealt two crucial blows before lunch to leave the opposition reeling on 128 for five at lunch.
Tare continued to bowl spin from one end while the pacers continued to bend their backs from the other end. While Sheldon Jackson, who had joined Nair in the second session got off to a good start, he was deceived in flight by Bista and found his woodwork disrupted for 37. A few overs later, the young offspinner had Stuart Binny stumped by Tare as the batsman came down the track looking to take on the bowler.
Speaking about the conditions later, Nayar explained, “There is assistance for the spinners. Anybody who puts in right area will get assistance.
There is quite a bit of rough outside the off stumps for the right-handers so any offspinner (bowling to him) or a left arm spinner bowling to a left-hander pitches the ball it in the right areas it is not easy to get runs.”
Nair was tested by the bowlers but toiled hard to hold the innings together as he took the team to Tea at 214 for seven with Unadkat. Tare plied spinners from both ends as Mumbai searched for wickets post Tea before taking the new ball in the 86th over.
Nair, who was batting on 82 looked to inch forward with Krishna Das, but 14 runs later holed out over covers where Shreyas Iyer took the catch to give Kulkarni his only wicket of the innings. With the injured Ankit Rajpoot not coming out to bat, the ROI XI innings ended for 306.
With a solid 297-run lead, Mumbai came out to bat for the second time but lost Akhil Herwadkar on the fourth ball of the innings to Unadkat as the delivery took an inside edge and crashed into the stumps leaving the home team on two for one at the end of day’s play.
Reflecting on the day’s play Nayar said, “It (wicket) was a little slow but if you put in the right areas the ball was doing a bit. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bowl on but the ball is turning a bit now so hopefully we can get a few runs it will be interesting later on.”
With two days left in the game, Mumbai are in a commanding position with a formidable first innings lead under their belt as they look to lift the Irani Cup.
Brief scores:
Day 3 – ROI XI 306/9 in 99.5 overs (K Nair 94, J Unadkat 48, A Nayar 3/35, J Bista 2/52); Mumbai 2nd inn 2/1 in 0.4 overs (J Bista 1*, J Unadkat 1/2) lead by 299 runs
Day 2 – Mumbai 1st inn 603/10 in158.2 overs (SK Yadav 156, S Lad 66, A Tare 65, J Yadav 4/132, J Unadkat 2/128); ROI XI 1st inn 36/1 in 16 overs (F Fazal 18*, A Nayar 1/4)
Day 1 - Mumbai 1st inn 386/3 in 83 overs (J Bista 104, A Herwadkar 90, SK Yadav 88*, S Binny 1/35)
