Skipper Amol Mazumdar came to Mumbai's rescue on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Baroda, at the Moti Bagh stadium in Baroda, on Tuesday.
He scored a dogged 97 to rally the 36-time champions from a precarious 59 for 3 to a respectable 233 in the first innings, after Baroda skipper Jacob Martin offered Mumbai first use of the wicket.
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At close of play on day 1, Baroda, in reply, were nine without loss in three overs.
Mumbai were in deep trouble after losing openers Wasim Jaffer and Sahil Kukreja with just 40 on the board. And when Hiken Shah followed them back to the pavilion at 59 for 3, it was left to Mazumdar to perform the rescue act.
And he did it in style, adding 70 for the fifth wicket with Abhishek Nair and another valuable 44 runs with wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant (20) for the seventh to pull the side out of the woods.
It was unfortunate that he fell three runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century, being the last to be dismissed, after a five-and-a-half hour stay at the wicket.
Pacers Irfan Pathan and Rakesh Patel did the bulk of the damage, picking three wickets each for 49 and 53 runs respectively.
At stumps, Baroda openers Connor Williams and Satyajit Parab were unbeaten on 0 and 8 respectively.
Scorecard
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja b Patel 14
W Jaffer lbw b I Pathan 22
H Shah c Solanki b Pawar 10
A Muzumdar c Y Pathan b I Pathan 97
R Sharma run out (Solanki) 6
A Nair c Panchal b Y Pathan 30
W Mota c Martin b Pawar 4
V Samant b Patel 20
N Kulkarni lbw b Patel 0
S Hazare lbw b I Pathan 0
R Verma not out 1
Extras: (b 4, lb 12, nb 13) 29
Total: 233
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-40, 3-59, 4-75, 5-145, 6-162, 7-206, 8-206, 9-222, 10-233.
Bowling: I Pathan 22.5-6-49-3, R Patel 20-7-53-3, R Pawar 22.3-3-94-2, S Joshi 8-4-9-0, Y Pathan 6.3-2-12-1.
Baroda (1st innings):
C Williams not out 0
S Parab not out 8
Extras: (nb 1) 1
Total: (0 wickets; 3 overs) 9
To bat: J Martin, P Shah, R Solanki, I Pathan, R Pawar, R Patel, Y Pathan, K Panchal, S Joshi.
Bowling: R Verma 2-1-1-0, S Hazare 1-0-8-0.
