Sport - Cricket

Bahutule and Powar turn the tide in Mumbai’s favour

— Photo: S. Subramanium

CENTRE OF ATTRACTION: Ramesh Powar (left) took three wickets as Mumbai snatched the first innings lead against Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Ironically, the two men who gallantly made a match of it for Delhi ended up being equally guilty of making a mess of it.

Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia, the two overnight batsmen hammered the Mumbai pace bowlers out of the firing line before committing hara-kiri against spinners Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule, as the host conceded a decisive 35-run first-innings lead in the Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Tuesday.

After bowling out Delhi for 295 just after lunch, Mumbai added to Delhi’s woes by finishing the third day at 149 without loss.

In the pre-lunch session, Delhi, looking healthy at 225 for four, simply collapsed to 258 for nine before the last-wicket pair added 37 runs. Powar and Bahutule picked up three wickets each by benefiting hugely from Delhi’s irresponsible stroke-play.

An overall lead of 184 and the indication from Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer that he would like to bat all of Wednesday, if given a chance, means the final day is going to be a long haul on the field for the host. With the competitive element virtually over, the proceedings of the final day will only be of statistical interest.

On Tuesday, the decisive phase of the match came soon after Manhas and Bhatia had negotiated 13 overs from the pace bowlers. In 70 minutes, the Delhi’s experienced duo looked in total command. Runs flowed easily and Delhi moved from its overnight 179 for four to 225 without further loss.

With Manhas just two runs away from scoring his 17th first class century in what is his 100 first-class match, the Delhi players were preparing for a vociferous applause in anticipation of the former captain’s timely century. But it was not to be.

Manhas chased a wide delivery from Powar and Agarkar, at point, brought off a low diving catch. This was just the kind of breakthrough Mumbai needed and soon more success followed. The tide had firmly turned in Mumbai’s favour.

Bahutule, introduced from the other end, won a leg-before appeal against in-form wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht who was penalised for deliberate padding.

Much depended on Bhatia who had saved Delhi the blushes on many occasions. However, after hitting two boundaries off Bahutule, Bhatia came down the wicket in search of another big one but was stumped. This dismissal firmly shut the door on Delhi in its chase of the first innings lead. The long-handle approach of Sumeet Narwal and Pradeep Sangwan did not last long and ended in easy catches.

The last-wicket pair of Chetnya Nanda and Parvinder Awana delayed the inevitable for 65 minutes before Powar castled the latter.

For the remainder of the day, a submissive Delhi chased leather as the Mumbai openers methodically built on the advantage. Kukreja smashed 77 with 15 boundaries and Jaffer helped himself to 71, including nine hits to the fence, as Mumbai looked set to add to Delhi’s misery.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: 330

Delhi — 1st innings: Aakash Chopra c Samant b Kulkarni 16, Shikhar Dhawan b Agarkar 1, Mayank Tehlan lbw b Malvi 21, Mithun Manhas c Agarkar b Powar 98, Aditya Jain b Agarkar 8, Rajat Bhatia st Samant b Bahutule 81, Puneet Bisht lbw b Bahutule 0, Sumeet Narhwal c Kukreja b Bahutule 13, Pradeep Sangwan c Malvi b Powar 6, Chetnya Nanda (not out) 11, Parvinder Awana b Powar 20, Extras (b-4, lb-10, nb-4, w-2) 20, Total (in 94.3 overs) 295

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-36, 3-56, 4-79, 5-225, 6-226, 7-247, 8-254, 9-258.

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 20-3-64-2, Kulkarni 25-5-77-1, Malvi 17-5-42-1, Bahutule 17-2-44-3, Powar 15.3-2-54-3.

Mumbai — 2nd innings: S. Kukreja (batting) 77, W. Jaffer (batting) 71, Extras (nb-1) 1, Total (for no loss in 37 overs) 149.

Delhi bowling: Sangwan 4-0-19-0, Narwal 11-3-37-0, Awana 6-0-28-0, Nanda 7-1-32-0, Bhatia 4-1-15-0, Jain 5-1-18-0.

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