Delhi bounces back as Mumbai flounders

Half-centuries from Wasim Jaffer (61), Aditya Tare (53) and Siddhesh Lad (74) saw Mumbai ending the first day of its Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ league match against Delhi on 252 for six.

The home side was 160 for three at one stage, and eyeing a big score, but a disciplined Delhi attack saw off Abhishek Nayar and Suryakumar Yadav quickly to peg it back.

In the morning, the Delhi pacemen had kept the top order quiet.

Ashish Nehra forced opener Kaustubh Pawar to forgo self-discipline, and his attempted slash ended in gully’s hands.

Jaffer, meanwhile, looked at ease, leaning into his drives and rocking on to the backfoot for the pull.

He cruised to his half-century off 82 balls (10x4, 1x6).

His stay ended when a mistimed pull off Parvinder Awana looped into the hands of square leg.

Cautious game

Tare and Lad went about it with caution as Nehra, Awana and Pawan Suyal made the batsmen play.

Tare came out of his shell only when the slow bowlers Vikas Mishra and Manan Sharma came on.

A waiting game was being played out in the middle as the Mumbai batsmen followed orders to wear down the rival attack as long as possible.

Tare took 158 balls to cross 50, but was eventually deceived by spin, falling to Manan.

Then, Suyal trapped Nayar in front, and Nehra induced a nick off Yadav.

Awana ended Lad’s 194-minute vigil by hurrying the youngster into chopping the ball onto the stumps.

Hiken Shah is the lone specialist left, and the Delhi attack has its tail up.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: Kaustubh Pawar c Manhas b Nehra 8, Aditya Tare c Gambhir b Manan 53, Wasim Jaffer c sub b Awana 61, Siddhesh Lad b Awana 74, Abhishek Nayar lbw b Suyal 12, Suryakumar Yadav c Manan b Nehra 20, Hiken Shah (batting) 13, Balwinder Sandhu Jr. (batting) 7, Extras (w-4) 4; Total (for six wkts. in 88 overs) 252.

Fall of wkts: 1-10, 2-104, 3-160, 4-187, 5-226, 6-240.

Delhi bowling: Ashish Nehra 14-7-16-2, Parvinder Awana 18-5-52-2, Rajat Bhatia 14-7-20-0, Pawan Suyal 13-3-53-1, Manan Sharma 15-0-66-1, Vikas Mishra 13-2-42-0, Virender Sehwag 1-0-3-0.