An unbeaten 91 by middle-order batsman Amol Mazumdar helped Mumbai finish on 236 for 5 on the opening day of the four-day 'Elite' Group 'A' Ranji Trophy cricket match against Railways in Mumbai on Wednesday.
After being put in to bat, the hosts were in some sort of bother losing half their side for 151 runs in 55.2 overs before Muzumdar, who faced 207 balls in his 342-minute stay at the crease and hit five fours, and Powar (32 not out) added 85 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket to steady the rocking boat.
Earlier, Railways' skipper Sanjay Bangar's decision to field first was justified when Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer (20) and Pushkaraj Jadhav (6) were back in the pavilion with just 30 runs on the board.
However, Bhavin Thakkar (35) and Mazumdar added 62 runs for the third wicket before Thakkar was caught and bowled by medium pacer J P Yadav, who had earlier bowled Jaffer for 20, and had Jadhav caught by wicket-keeper Sudhir Wankhede for six.
Test discard Vinod Kambli (19 off 28 balls) started off well but failed to keep his drive down and gave a return catch to Bangar.
Mumbai skipper Sairaj Bahutule (11) also failed to give Mazumdar the much-needed support and was caught and bowled by 'offie' Shreyas Khanolkar.
Among the Railways bowlers, Yadav bowled a very good line and length to finish with three for 36 while Bangar and Khanolkar took a wicket each conceding 53 and 28 runs respectively.
Scoreboard
Mumbai (1st innings):
W Jaffer b J P Yadav 20
P Jadhav c S Wankhede B J P Yadav 6
B Thakkar c and b J P Yadav 35
A Muzumdar batting 91
V Kambli c and b S Bangar 19
S Bahutule c and b S Khanolkar 11
R Powar batting 32
Extras: (1-b, 7-lb, 1-w, 13-nb) 22
Total: (for 5 wkts off 90 overs) 236
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-30, 3-94, 4-130, 5-151.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 15-1-55-0, J P Yadav 24-10-36-3, Z Hussain 11-4-19-0, S Bangar 19-5-53-1, S Khanolkar 9-0-28-1, K Parida 10-2-26-0, T P Singh 2-0-11-0.
