Mumbai: Karnataka were in control after reducing Mumbai to 109-5 in their second innings on the second day of the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game here Saturday.
Karnataka took a slender 24-run first-innings lead despite a fifer from Mumbai off-spinner Shashank Attarde.
But pacer Abhimanyu Mithun (3-52) rattled the Mumbai top-order to give the southern side an advantage before Sarfaraz Khan (53 batting) and Shams Mulani (31) rallied the hosts with their 83-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Earlier, Karnataka started the day on 79/3 and lost skipper Karun Nair (0) as pacer Royston Dias (1-22) struck on the fourth ball of day. Karnataka were 79/4.
Shaw, who sustained an injury to his left shoulder while fielding on the first day, did not take the field and later it was announced that he won’t bat in Mumbai’s second innings.
The other overnight batsman R Samarth (86 off 139 balls, 13×4) then found an able ally in all-rounder Shreyas Gopal (31 off 85 balls; 3×4) as the two took Karnataka ahead with their 78-run stand.
Mumbai’s wait for a wicket ended after skipper Suryakumar Yadav took a flying catch at short-midwicket to send Gopal back.
Gopal top-edged Attarde’s (5-58) delivery, only to be caught by Surya, as Karnataka lost their fifth wicket at 157. Attarde then pegged back the visitors by removing Samarth, who was caught by Sarfaraz Khan at short-leg.
The offie took two wickets in seven balls as Karnataka slumped to 158/6. Attarde was on fire as he cleaned up Abhimanyu Mithun (2) to leave Karnataka teetering at 166/7, still trailing by 28 runs. Attarde took three wickets in 18 balls.
Left-arm spinner Mulani (3-55) wasn’t to be left behind as he removed Ronit More (4) cheaply to leave Karnataka at 171/8. Wicketkeeper BR Sharath (46 off 54 balls; 7×4, 1×6) survived a stumping chance off Mulani. At lunch, the visitors were 179/8.
However, post lunch, Sharath played a responsible knock to give Karnataka the first innings lead. He swept a six to take Karnataka ahead in company of V Koushik (4). Prithvi still did not take the field after lunch.
The duo stitched 42 runs for the ninth wicket. Sharath’s cameo ended after he tried to pull, but top-edged to ’keeper Tare off Tushar Deshpande (1-40) in the seventh over after lunch. Karnataka were 213-9.
Attarde took his fifth wicket as he removed Koushik and Karnataka were bundled out for 218, as they took a slender 24 runs lead.
In Mumbai’s second essay, Ajinkya Rahane (1) opened along with Tare (6) but failed again. Rahane survived 16 balls before being trapped by Abhimanyu Mithun.
This has been a flop Ranji season for Rahane as he has been able to score only 109 runs from six innings with a lone fifty against Baroda.
Mithun struck again as he lobbed off a return catch of Siddesh Lad (4) with Mumbai at 12/2. Pacer V Koushik then sent Tare back leaving Mumbai at 12-3. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (10) too perished early, becoming Mithun’s third victim as Mumbai were in spot of bother at 26/4.
Then Mulani and Khan did the damage control before Mulani was dismissed on the last ball of the day. Mumbai lead by 85 runs with two days of play left.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and injured seamer Dhawal Kulkarni watched the proceedings.
Summarised Scores:
Mumbai 194 and 109/5 (Sarfaraz Khan 53 batting, S Mulani 31; A Mithun 3-52) vs Karnataka 218 (R Samarth 86, B R Sharath 46; Shashank Attarde 5-58, Shams Mulani 3-55). Mumbai lead by 85 runs.
At Kanpur: Tamil Nadu 165/6 (L Suryapprakash 51, V Ganga Sridhar 45; Saurabh Kumar 3-39) vs Uttar Pradesh.
At Vadodara: Baroda 201 and 98 (Vishnu Solanki 44; Himanshu Sangwan 4-44) vs Railways 99 (Dinesh Mor 26; Anupreet Singh 5-39, L Meriwala 4-36) and 0/1. Railways need 201 runs to win.
At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 175 vs Madhya Pradesh 364/7 (Rameez Khan 151 not out; Gautam Raghuvanshi 64; PP Jaswal 4-82). MP lead by 189 runs.
PTI
