Baroda crash to Agarkar's speed

VADODARA: Just when young southpaw Rakesh Solanki looked like making a mockery of the Mumbai pace attack on a wicket known for its bounce, India seamer Ajit Agarkar came up with a dream second spell to break Baroda’s back and put the visitors in the driver’s seat on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final match being played at the GSFC ground here on Friday.
Agarkar’s figures of 5 for 46 ensured that the hosts were skittled out for a paltry 130 in their first innings after which, a sensible knock of 69 from Nishit Shetty helped to stave off the dangerous threat posed by Baroda speedsters Zaheer Khan and Rakesh Patel and see Mumbai to finish the day, eight runs ahead and with seven wickets in the kitty.
After Agarkar got the prolific Satyajit Parab to depart early, skipper Connor Williams and Solanki built up their partnership by judiciously leaving the dangerous rising deliveries and hammering anything that was pitched in the right slot. Latest pace sensation on the Indian bowling firmament, Avishkar Salvi was getting the ball to thud into wicket-keeper Vinayak Samant’s gloves half-way down the field. However, both Agarkar and captain Paras Mhambrey resisted the temptation to do the same on a wicket that had some juice in it in the first hour.
Baroda (1st innings): Satyajit Parab c Samant b Agarkar 0, Connor Williams c & b Agarkar 25, Rakesh Solanki b A Salvi 43, Dhiren Salvi lbw Agarkar 0, Tushar Arothe c Samant b Agarkar 0, Ajit Bhoite c Muzumdar b Mhambrey 13, Nayan Mongia lbw Bahutule 25, Irfan Pathan (Jr) c & b Agarkar 0, Rakesh Patel c Samant b Mhambrey 1, Zaheer Khan run out 14, Valmik Buch not out 2. Extras (4-nb, 3-b): 7. Total: 130 all out off 43.3 overs, 202 mins. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-75, 3-75, 4-75, 5-75, 6-94, 7-95, 8-96, 9-118.
Bowling: Agarkar 15-4-46-5, A Salvi 10-4-20-1, Mhambrey 10-3-32-2(1nb), Bahutule 6.3-0-23-1(3nb), R Powar 2-1-6-0. Mumbai (1st innings): Vinayak Mane lbw Zaheer 18, Wasim Jaffer c Mongia b Rakesh 22, Nishit Shetty batting 69, Amol Muzumdar lbw Zaheer 17, Bhavin Thakkar batting 3. Extras (7-lb, 2-nb): 9. Total: 138 for 3 off 44 overs, 211mins. Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-71, 3-109. Bowling: Zaheer 13-3-29-2, Rakesh 11-4-24-1, Irfan 12-3-39-0, Buch 2-0-12-0, Bhoite 2-0-20-0(1nb), Arothe 4-1-7-0(1nb)