Published: Jan 01, 2014, 09:06 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 07, 2014, 06:57 PM (IST)
Valsad: Jan 1, 2013
A splendid rearguard action by their batsmen and three quick wickets have kept Mumbai in contention for a berth in the quarter-finals even as Gujarat would also fancy their chances as their Ranji Trophy Group A contest is headed for an exciting finish in Valsad.
In a chase of 175, Gujarat are 67 for three and need to bat cautiously to score the remaining runs while Mumbai would go all out to remove the seven remaining batsmen to move to the knock-out stage.
Beginning the day at 76 for four, Mumbai scored 273 to set a 175-run target for the hosts.
Overnight batsmen Hiken Shah and Iqbal Abdulla, both on four, added 60 runs for the fifth wicket. Their partnership was broken by Rakesh Dhurv when the left-arm spinner had Abdulla (38) caught but the following batsmen kept fighting for Mumbai.
Akshar Patel denied Shah (48) a half-century but Pravin Tambe played a significant knock of 42 and then Shardul Thakur (22) and Javed Khan (23) came up with useful knocks to shore up the Mumbai second innings total.
Jasprit Bumrah (4/68) and Askhar Patel (3/71) shared seven wickets between them for Gujarat.
Mumbai then put Gujarat on shaky ground by dismissing Smit Patel (6), Samit Gohel (0) and skipper Parthiv Patel (5) cheaply, with Abdulla removing both the openers.
Bhargav Merai (19) and Askhar Patel (25) then denied Mumbai more success to the end the day at 67 for three as they need to score 108 more runs for an outright win and a place in the quarter-finals.
Brief scores:
Mumbai 154 and 273 (Hiken Shah 48, Pravin Tambe 42; Jasprit Bumrah 4/68, Askhar Patel 3/71) lead Gujarat 253 and 67 for 3 (Askhar Patel 25 batting; Iqbal Abdulla 2/11) by 108 runs.
