Date:29/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/29/stories/2008122955921600.htm

Sport - Cricket

Mumbai sitting pretty

G. Viswanath

Dogra remains undefeated on 82
Agarkar bowls well

Ahmedabad: A semblance of a fightback emerged from the powerful blade of Paras Dogra, but Mumbai virtually sealed the fate of this Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie against Himachal Pradesh here at the Motera on Sunday.

A bold and clean striker, Dogra cut loose in the last session here on Sunday to remain undefeated on 82 (88b, 13x 4s, 2x6s) for the qualifier from the Plate League to bring down the deficit to 45 runs at stumps.

Mumbai ought to have removed more than half the Himachal Pradesh side, but the former champion showed a tendency to relax at a number of fielding positions after gaining a lead of 245 runs.

Ajit Agarkar sent down the best opening spell of the season and also removed a tenacious opener in his second over. Called upon for a second spell, the Mumbai seamer had the determined Sangram Singh stranded on his backfoot with a speedy yorker-length, forced Dogra (when on 47) to hook only for Vinayak Samant to miss a touch chance.

Fine catch

Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar created opportunities to cause more damage, but their colleagues dropped three catches in a row. Substitute Iqbal Abdulla raised the standard, converting a fine catch of a flick shot from left-hander Mukesh Sharma. Sangram made the most of the chances, showing fine footwork and good defence. Himachal wiped out nearly half the deficit in quick time with Dogra in particular flexing his muscles against easy offerings from Powar and Bahutule. Then Agarkar steamed in and ended the fourth-wicket stand with a beauty.

The scores:

Himachal Pradesh — 1st innings: 250

Mumbai — 1st innings: V. Samant c Thakkar b Mehta 20, W. Jaffer c Indulkar b Bhatia 108, A. Rahane c Indulkar b Sarandeep 35, Amol Muzumdar c Mannu b Malik 6, R. Sharma b Bhatia 98, A. Nayar c Thakur b Bhatia 39, S. Bahutule b Malik 34, A. Agarkar b Mehta 50, R. Powar c Sangram b Sarandeep 28, D. Kulkarni c Sangram b Mehta 3, R. Shaikh (not out) 20, Extras (b-15, lb-11, nb-21, w-7) 54, Total (in 14.4 overs) 495.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-114, 3-141, 4-254, 5-334, 6-349, 7-436, 8-440, 9-444.

Himachal bowling: Thakur 15-5-42-0, Malik 22-2-62-2, Mehta 19-4-87-3, Sarandeep 31.4-2-104-2, Bhatia 31-0-154-3, Thakkar 3-1-6-0, M. Sharma 1-0-7-0, Sangram 2-0-7-0.

Himachal Pradesh — 2nd innings: B. Thakkar c Samant b Agarkar 4, Sangram Singh lbw b Agarkar 58, V. Indulkar c Jaffer b Powar 24, M. Sharma c (sub) I. Abdulla b Nayar 8, P. Dogra (batting) 82, A. Mannu c Powar b Bahutule 6, Sarandeep Singh (batting) 2, Extras (lb-2, nb-14) 16, Total (for five wkts. in 56 overs) 200.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-61, 3-82, 4-151, 5-187.

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 13-3-46-2, Kulkarni 13-3-46-0, Nayar 9-0-21-1, Shaikh 5-0-18-0, Powar 10-0-40-1, Bahutule 6-0-27-1.