Thakkar helps Mumbai gain upper hand

VADODARA: A diligent knock of 76 by Bhavin Thakkar, spanning over six hours, ensured that Mumbai took a handsome first innings lead of 260 runs over Baroda on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal being played here at the GSFC ground here on Saturday.
Useful contributions from virtually all the Mumbai batsmen saw to it that the potent Baroda seam attack, spearheaded by Zaheer Khan (5/46), stayed blunted.
Paying obeisance at the foot of the deity of patience, the compactly-built Thakkar showed that by resisting the temptation to bang the boundaries, a battle could be won.
Zaheer had got rid of Nishit Shetty in his second over of the morning, when trying to flick the ball, only managed to spoon a catch to Parab at mid-on after adding just five runs to his overnight score of 69. After that Thakkar, who played in this match only because Puskaraj Jadhav fell ill, showed that he was in no hurry to quit the square like most other batsmen in their first knock on Friday.
The Mumbai bat, who is playing his third Ranji game after doing so in two matches last season, hit his first boundary after 151 minutes at the wicket. The boundary-block seemed to have dissolved with that stroke as he pulled the bowler past square-leg in the same over.
With Zaheer bowling four overs in the morning and Patel and Irfan a little short ofideas, it was left to Ajit Bhoite to break the partnership. He obliged by bowling Mhambrey.
The new ball was taken after lunch, it had no effect on Bahutule and Thakkar as they kept piling runs. But that didn’t last. Zaheer claimed his fourth wicket beating Bahutule for pace crashing into his stumps. He made 45. Ajit Agarkar walked in and the runs began to flow.
It turned out to be a tortoise and hare race between the two Mumbai batsmen as Agarkar raced to fifty, picking Buch for special treatment. He looked good for a century when he was ut caught at the wicket for 65.
Baroda (1st innings): 130 all out.
Mumbai (1st innings)(overnight 138/3): Vinayak Mane lbw Zaheer 18, Wasim Jaffer c Mongia b Rakesh 22, Nishit Shetty c Parab b Za-heer 74, Amol Muzumdar lbw Zaheer 17, Bhavin Thakkar c Mongia b Arothe 76, Paras Mhambrey b Bhoite 19, Sairaj Bahutule b Za-heer 45, Ajit Agarkar c Bhoite b Arothe 65, Vinayak Samant c Mongia b Zaheer 14, Ramesh Powar b Arothe 5, Avishkar Salvi not out 15. Extras: (8-b, 10-lb, 2-nb): 20. Total: 390 all out in 543 mins, 122.3 overs. Fall of wkts: 1-31, 2-71, 3-109, 4-147, 5-177, 6-256, 7-355, 8-358, 9-364.
Bowling: Zaheer 23.3-8-46-5, Rakesh 24-10-54-1, Irfan 26-5-93-0, Buch 19-2-77-0, Bhoite 17-0-54-1(1nb), Arothe 13-3-48-3(1nb).
Baroda (2nd innings): Connor Williams c Jaffer b Powar 6, Satyajit Parab batting 6. Extras: (4-nb): 4. Total: 16 for 1 off 8.2 overs. Fall of wicket: 1-16.
Bowling: Agarkar 4-3-2-0, A Salvi 2-1-4-0, Bahutule 2-0-8-0(3nb), Powar 0.2-0-2-1(1nb).