The host TNCA XI gained a significant advantage as it restricted Mumbai to 141 for eight at stumps on a day that spinners ruled the roost at the Sri Ramakrishna College Cricket Ground in a Buchi Babu fixture here on Wednesday.
Even though the visitor’s Himanshu Singh (five for 81) had the best returns among the tweakers, it was the TNCA XI’s spin-trio of S. Ajith Ram (two for 29), S. Lakshay Jain (three for 30), and R. Sai Kishore (three for 30) that hunted like a pack after their side was dismissed for 379 just before lunch.
The first session started with Himanshu wreaking havoc over the TNCA XI middle order. The off-spinner removed R. Sonu Yadav, Sai Kishore and dangerman Boopathi Vaishna Kumar (82, 146b, 9x4) in quick succession to peg back the host — which started at 294 for five — to 315 for eight.
However, Ajith Ram swung the match in TNCA XI’s favour by unleashing his sweeps, scoring a quick-fire half-century (53, 69b, 7x4) and taking the total close to 400.
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It did not help Mumbai’s cause that skipper Sarfaraz Khan — who also did not come out to field on day two — could not bat due to an illness. The other stalwarts, Shreyas Iyer (2) and Suryakumar Yadav (30) were not able to save the team as they, too, fell to the smart plans set by the home outfit.
Mumbai will hope that opener Divyansh Saxena (61 batting, 186b, 6x4, 1x6), who showed composure amidst the frenzy, can make a match out of this on day three.
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