Kartik spins Mumbai to its doom

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI, OCT. 16. Mumbai's meek surrender to Murali Kartik and Rest of India in the Irani Trophy surprised many at the Wankhede stadium, the left-arm spinner himself and Rest skipper V.V.S. Laxman being two of them.

The Ranji Trophy champion capitulated in the face of Kartik's aggressive bowling which was aided by outstanding close- in fielding. Kartik claimed nine of the 10 Mumbai second innings wickets to fall as the host was shot out for 184 on the fourth day. Set to make 56 for victory, the Rest openers did the job to seal a comprehensive 10-wicket victory. Shiv Sundar Das (34 not out) and Sadagopan Ramesh (24 not out) did a favour by ending Mumbai's agony in 7.5 overs.

``Mumbai is known for its grafters, players who make you fight all the way. So this performance was surprising,'' said Kartik, whose nine wickets in the second innings took his match haul to 13 for 143. The Railways spinner, whose victims included opener Wasim Jaffer in both innings, Amol Muzumdar and Sameer Dighe in the second, was humble in his moment of triumph, pointing out the contribution of his close-in fielders in hastening Mumbai's defeat.

Rest skipper Laxman too echoed his spinner's opinion about Mumbai's collapse, but at the same time talked about the high motivation level in his side. ``Mumbai is not known to give in so easily, but you must remember that they were up against a highly- motivated bunch. The selectors were watching. I made my players aware of this opportunity to perform in front of them,'' Laxman said.

With Mumbai resuming at 145 for five, the question of how long it will survive the relentless pressure exerted by Kartik's stranglehold was answered in the second over of the morning itself as Paras Mhambrey departed without adding to his overnight score of two. Muzumdar, Dighe, Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar were snapped up by the alert close cordon, where Mohd. Kaif, Das, Laxman and Jacob Martin were outstanding.

Sharandeep Singh's dismissal of Santosh Saxena - substitute Reetinder Sodhi coming up with a reflex catch at short mid-off - deprived Kartik the one wicket he needed to do a Kumble, but the Railways spinner shrugged it off, basking instead in the glory of a memorable 13-wicket match figures on a track where he put fear in the minds of the Mumbai batsmen.

More importantly, Kartik gently reminded the selectors that he is ready in case they want to put his abilities to test at a higher level.

The scores:

Mumbai-1st innings: 260.

Rest of India-1st innings: 389.

Mumbai-2nd innings: V. Mane c Sharandeep b Kartik 37, W. Jaffer c Nehra b Kartik 50, K. Powar c Kaif b Kartik 24, A. Muzumdar c Laxman b Kartik 37, N. Shetty c Martin b Kartik 0, S. Dighe c Laxman b Kartik 4, P. Mhambrey c Kaif b Kartik 2, R. Powar c S.S. Das b Kartik 4, R. Pawar c Martin b Kartik 17, S. Saxena c sub (Reetinder Sodhi) b Sharandeep 0, N. Kulkarni (not out) 1; Extras (lb-3, nb-5) 8; Total (in 62.1 overs) 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-94, 3-118, 4- 123, 5-135, 6-145, 7-157, 8-175, 9-184.

Rest of India bowling: Ganesh 15-4-50-0, Nehra 8-3-17-0, Shukla 4-0-20-0, Kartik 24-6-70-9, Sharandeep 11.1-5-24-1.

Rest of India-2nd innings: S.S. Das (not out) 34, S. Ramesh (not out) 24; Total (for no loss in 7.5 overs) 58.

Mumbai bowling: Mhambrey 4-0-18-0, Saxena 1-0-8-0, Kulkarni 2-0- 23-0, R. Pawar 0.5-0-9-0.

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