A brilliant five-wicket haul by medium pacer Munaf Patel helped Maharashtra stage a determined comeback against former champions Mumbai, on an exciting second day in their last Ranji Trophy Elite Division Group 'A' tie at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
On another eventful day that saw wickets fall like nine-pins, Maharashtra skittled out Mumbai five overs after tea to restrict the hosts to 175 in their first innings and snatch a lead of 38 runs.
At close, Maharashtra were 73 for 3 in the second innings, 111 runs ahead, with Mansingh Nigade unbeaten on 27 and Abhijit Kale yet to open his account, as Mumbai struck back late in the day with the scalps of openers Satyajit Satbhai and Dhiraj Jadhav and captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
Mumbai, who were 20 for 2 overnight, did not recover from the early setback of the opening day and slumped to 47 for six by the end of the first hour.
Patel, in particular, had the Mumbai batsmen under immense pressure from the start of the day with disciplined bowling and added four more wickets to the one he claimed on day 1.
His victims within the first hour this morning included overnight batsmen Abhishek Nair, the formidable Amol Muzumdar and Nishit Shetty.
Patel's effort overshadowed a defiant unbeaten 78 by Ramesh Powar, who was associated in a 94-run partnership for the seventh wicket with overnight batsman Vinit Indulkar, that rescued Mumbai from embarrassment and took them to 161 for seven at tea.
Scorecard
Maharashtra (1st innings): 213
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja lbw b Burkul 4
S Marathe b Patel 6
A Nair b Patel 0
V Indulkar lbw b Burkul 40
A Muzumdar c Satbhai b Patel 2
N Shetty b Patel 6
A Shetye c RP Jadhav b Sanclecha 2
R Powar not out 78
N Kulkarni lbw b Burkul 10
S Hazare lbw b Patel 1
R Verma run out (Patel) 1.
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 2, nb 20) 25
Total (all out, 69 overs, 343 mins) 175
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-19, 3-21, 4-31, 5-41, 6-47, 7-141, 8-163, 9-166, 10-175
Bowling: Patel 23-2-79-5 (11nb, 1w), Burkul 20-4-30-3 (2nb, 1w), Sanclecha 15-3-39-1, Bahutule 11-4-24-0 (3nb).
Maharashtra (2nd innings):
S Satbhai c Shetty b Hazare 10
D Jadhav c Muzumdar b Verma 17
H Kanitkar c Indulkar b Powar 16
M Nigde not out 27
A Kale not out 0
Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3
Total (3 wickets, 26 overs) 73
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-31, 3-73
Bowling: Hazare 8-1-34-1 (1w), Verma 9-2-19-1, Powar 6-1-13-1, Nair 3-1-5-0.