By IANS
Rajkot : Late strikes by Munaf Patel helped Rest of India restrict Ranji Trophy winners Mumbai to 98 for six in the second innings at the end of the third day’s play in the Irani Trophy here Monday.
Munaf scaled three for 16 from his six overs while Ranadeb Bose and Ishant Sharma picked up a wicket apiece as the famed Mumbai batting collapsed in the second essay.
In the first innings, the Ranji Trophy champions were all out for 453 and in reply, Rest of India made 472 and took a slim lead of 19 runs.
When the stumps were drawn, Mumbai had a lead of just 79 runs and four wickets in hand with two full days of play remaining.
Riding on centuries from Parthiv Patel (179) and Manoj Tiwari (130) and some determined batting by tailenders Ranadeb Bose and Munaf Patel, Rest of India are now at sniffing distance of an outright win.
Rest of India resumed the third day’s play at 293 for four and Patel showed enough grit and determination with Tiwari to tear apart the Mumbai bowling attack.
Tiwary and Parthiv, the overnight batsmen, started off aggressively and the first over of the morning went for 12 and the first seven for a total of 46. The duo stitched 201 runs for the fifth wicket partnership on a pitch that had no signs of helping the bowlers.
But Rajesh Verma’s persistence with the new ball helped Mumbai to pick up quick wickets.
Parthiv was caught by Iqbal Abdullah off his own bowling while Tiwari was bowled by Verma.
Tiwary fell at the stroke of lunch, when the match was evenly poised, as Rest of India needed 32 more to take the first-innings lead with only two wickets in hand.
But some gritty batting by Munaf (31) and Bose (19) helped Rest of India to take a 19 runs lead over the Ranji Trophy champions.
SCOREBOARD:
Day III, Irani Trophy, Mumbai vs. Rest of India, Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot, Oct 8
Mumbai (1st innings): 453
Rest of India (1st innings, overnight 292/4)
Akash Chopra c Naik b Verma 0
Parthiv Patel c & b Abdulla 179
Mohammed Kaif lbw b Agarkar 18
Suresh Raina b Verma 17
Subramaniam Badrinath lbw b Abdulla 29
Manoj Tiwary b Verma 130
Amit Mishra c Gurav b Verma 22
Pragyan Ojha c & b Verma 4
Ranadeb Bose lbw b Nayar 19
Munaf Patel lbw b Abdulla 31
Ishant Sharma not out 0
Extras: (lb 11, w 9, nb 3) 23
Total: (all out in 119.3 overs) 472
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Chopra, 3.5 overs), 2-33 (Kaif, 11.5), 3-64 (Raina, 18.3), 4-150 (Badrinath, 35.5), 5-351 (Parthiv, 78.5), 6-405 (Mishra, 93.6), 7-415 (Ojha, 97.2), 8-418 (Tiwary, 99.2), 9-472 (Munaf, 118.5), 10-472 (Bose, 119.3)
Bowling:
Ajit Agarkar 21-2-101-1 (2nb, 3w)
Rajesh Verma 30-3-97-5 (1nb, 3w)
Abhishek Nayar 27.3-6-73-1 (2w)
Ramesh Powar 14-0-87-0
Iqbal Abdulla 26-4-100-3
Ajinkya Rahane 1-0-3-0
Mumbai (2nd innings)
Sahil Kukreja run out (Munaf) 14
Ajinkya Rahane c Chopra b Sharma 27
Wasim Jaffer not out lbw b Agarkar 18
Amol Muzumdar c Chopra b Bose 4
Prashant Naik lbw b Munaf 13
Abhishek Nayar c Chopra b Munaf 8
Ramesh Powar b Munaf 0
Ajit Agarkar not out 7
Extras (lb 1, nb 3) 4
Total (for six wickets in 31 overs) 98
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Kukreja, 11.1 overs), 2-43 (Rahane, 11.3), 3-50 (Muzumdar, 14.2), 4-74 (Naik, 23.2), 5-82 (Nayar, 23.6), 6-82 (Powar, 25.4)
Bowling:
Ranadeb Bose 11-1-42-1
Ishant Sharma 10-3-29-1 (2nb)
Amit Mishra 4-2-7-0 (1nb)
Munaf Patel 6-2-19-3
Umpires: K Hariharan and S.K. Tarapore
TV umpire: R.M. Deshpandey
Match referee: M. Nayyar