Chavan scalps four as Mumbai seize initiative at Brabourne

MUMBAI: A brilliant spell of left-arm spin bowling by Ankeet Chavan (4-61) and useful contribution from pacers helped Mumbai to dominate the second day of their Ranji clash against Bengal, at the Brabourne Stadium, on Sunday.
Bengal were bowled out for 201 in reply to the hosts' first-innings total of 297. Mumbai, who were 96 runs to the good in the first innings, were six for no loss at stumps in their second essay and now have a lead of 102.
Early wickets were crucial if Mumbai were to prevent Bengal from taking the first innings lead. The hosts needed their own stars to rise to the challenge and Chavan struck regular blows to deny Bengal big partnerships.
Bengal seemed to relive a nightmare when the visitors lost two wickets inside nine overs. Rohan Banerjee (9) was run out trying to steal a third run, while Writam Porel (2) edged a simple catch to Hiken Shah at third slip. The visitors had endured the agony of losing a low-scoring, but competitive game against Madhya Pradesh in their last match. Bengal batsmen showed a lack of resolve in somewhat identical fashion to cave in against the Mumbai bowlers on Sunday.
Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary lived dangerously for his 39. Tiwary was dropped twice, first by Hiken Shah on 12 off Dhawal Kulkarni and then by Wasim Jaffer off Ankeet Chavan on 23. In hindsight, the Bengal batsman should have stayed longer than 101 minutes to guide his team out of the pits. Instead, he tried to attack left-arm spinner Chavan and holed out to Avishkar Salvi at cover.
Wriddhiman Saha, who was dismissed for a duck off Ramesh Powar, was lucky to be called back after reviews showed the Mumbai offie had overstepped. But the Bengal 'keeper-batsman failed to make it count as his half-push resulted in a nick to Kaustabh Pawar off the very next ball.
Both Powar and Chavan bowled in tandem and got the ball to turn square. Powar especially got good bounce from the wicket and the accompanying turn gave the batsmen little time to adjust. Chavan attacked with two slips and a fielder at silly point. He struck thrice after tea to remove Subhomoy Das (19), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (2) and Veer Pratap Singh (2) respectively. Bengal's Arindam Das remained not out on 98 to carry his bat through.
Mumbai's leading wicket-taker Chavan considered Das's performance as one of the best on the Brabourne wicket.
"For Arindam's part to bat patiently and hold one end was commendable. He batted brilliantly and only attacked the loose balls. 98 not out on a wicket like this is worth remembering. We will push for an outright win from here," Chavan said after the day's play.