A fine spell of fast bowling by Aavishkar Salvi (5 for 42) enabled Ranji champions Mumbai bowl out Baroda for 213 in the first innings on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy cricket match (Group-A) in Mumbai on Friday.
Put in to bat by Mumbai skipper Nilesh Kulkarni, Baroda opening batsmen Connor Williams and Satyajit Parab started off confidently against Mumbai pacemen Salvi and Swapnil Hazare. However, with the score reading 18 Salvi provided Mumbai the first breakthrough when he took a well judged return catch to dismiss left hander Williams for two.
Hazare struck from the other end when he had Parab caught by wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant for 14 in the tenth over of the morning.
Test discard Nayan Mongia (74) came up with a gem of an innings to not only steady the boat but also to remind the Indian selectors that he is still good enough.
However, with the scoreboard reading 36, Baroda suffered another setback when Jacob Martin was snapped up by Vinayak Mane in first slip off Salvi for nine and the visitors were in real trouble even before the 18th over.
Mongia steadied the innings with a crucial 58-run partnership with Tushar Arothe (28), which helped the visitors cross the 200-run mark.
Off-spinner Romesh Pawar also played an important role in restricting Baroda, claiming three wickets for 63 runs.
Arothe was caught by Mane at silly point off Powar for 28, which came in 81 balls with four hits to the fence.
Mongia, who stroked the ball, played some fine cover drives and pulls off the medium pacers and spinners. The former India stumper added 68 runs for the fifth wicket with Himanshu Jadav in 25.2 overs before becoming Salvi's third victim, snapped by Robin Morris at square-leg while trying to hook.
Jadav soon followed Mongia to the pavilion, caught by Samant behind the wicket off Salvi for 27.
Rakesh Patel (3) and former Mumbai left arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, who now plays for Baroda, did not last long and was out for 2.
Ajitrao Bhoite (26 off 69, 2x4) and Shekar Joshi (10) added 39 crucial runs for the ninth wicket before leaving in quick succession.
Bhoite was caught by Powar at mid-off off Salvi while Joshi was bowled by Powar's faster delivery which left last man Irfan Pathan (senior) not out on two.
Though Salvi and Powar shared wickets, it was Kulkarni who was very economical with figures of 24-8-37-0, while Hazare took one for 50.
Scorecard:
Baroda first innings:
C Williams c & b Salvi 2 (33)
SS Parab c Samant b Hazare 14 (24)
N Mongia c Morris b Salvi 74 (141)
J Martin c Mane b Salvi 9 (24)
T Arothe c Mane b Powar 28 (81)
H Jadhav c Samant b Salvi 27 (95)
A Bhoite c Powar b Salvi 26 (69)
R Patel c Jaffer b Powar 3 (9)
R Pawar run out (Mane) 2 (14)
S Joshi b Powar 10 (38)
Irfan Pathan Sr. not out 2 (4)
Extras: (b:5, lb:2, nb: 9) 16
Total: (213 all out in 87.2 overs)
FOW: 18-1, 18-2, 36-3, 94-4, 162-5, 166-6, 178-7, 181-8, 211-9, 213-10.
Bowling: A Salvi 19.2-5-42-5, S Hazare 15-2-50-1, R Morris 6-2-14-0, N Kulkarni 24-8-37-0, R Powar 23-4-63-3.
