Sitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwar Pujara hit unbeaten half centuries to put Saurashtra on top against holders Mumbai on the first day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group A tie in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Put in to bat by Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar, playing his 100th Ranji match, Saurashtra piled up 202 for 2 in 90 overs at stumps with Kotak batting on 73 and the more aggressive Pujara on 61.
The duo joined forces at 92 when opener Kanhaiya Vaghela departed after becoming medium pacer Murtaza Hussain's second victim for 35. Hussain had earlier snapped up the other opener Sagar Jogiyani cheaply.
Kotak, who batted right through the three sessions while facing 268 balls in making 73 with nine fours mostly through glides to fine leg, while Pujara used the cut shot to good effect in hitting 12 boundaries while facing 129 balls in his 176-minute knock.
The pair put on 110 runs in 42.4 overs.
Kotak, who slammed a century against Maharashtra in the previous tie at Nagothane, patiently wore down the home team's attack to put on 81 runs for the second wicket with Vaghela and steady the innings before consolidating it further with Pujara.
After committing the blunder of putting Delhi in, Muzumdar again gave a gift to Saurashtra by inviting them to bat on a placid wicket and the visitors took full advantage of the largesse.
Kotak showed his intent of occupying the crease from the beginning. Though Saurashtra, who need only a first innings lead to qualify for the semis, lost Jogiyani at 11.
The going was slow as Saurashtra made only 68 runs in the first 150-minute session from 37 overs and increased the rate of scoring slightly by advancing to 131 for 2 in 63 overs at tea before adding 71 runs in 27 overs in the final session.
Kotak completed his half century in over four hours after facing 185 balls, as compared to Pujara who reached his fifty in 98 balls and 131 minutes. But the duo complemented each other well to deny any wicket to Mumbai in nearly three hours.
Mumbai, whose misery was compounded when medium pacer Mundeep Mungela was warned twice by the umpires for running on to the danger area on the pitch, summoned the second new ball just before close but to no avail.
Scorecard:
Saurashtra (1st innings):
K Vaghela c Samant b Hussain 35
S Jogiyani b Hussain 5
S Kotak batting 73
C Pujara batting 61
Extras: (b 4, lb 15, nb 6, wb 3) 28
Total: (for 2 wkts, in 90 overs) 202
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-92
Bowling: Hussain 19-6-32-2, Mungela 20-9-32-0, Nair 13-4-29-0, Powar 16-4-33-0, Kulkarni 17-4-47-0, Muzumdar 4-1-6-0, R Sharma 1-0-4-0
