Irani Trophy 2016: Mumbai in driver's seat after the end of day 3

Karun Nair waged a lone battle against a spirited attack as Day 3 of the Irani Cup saw Mumbai inch closer to the title. It was mainly due to Nair’s brilliant knock of 94 that saw Rest of India(ROI) reach a respectable score of 306/9.

Night-watchman Jayant Yadav played fearlessly to score a handy 46 before being dismissed by the pick of Mumbai bowlers, Abhishek Nayar.

Wickets kept tumbling regularly before Nair found an able ally in the form of Sheldon Jackson.The duo together added 59 runs for the sixth wicket before first innings’ centurion Bista dismissed Jackson for 37. The only time when Mumbai were made to worry was when Jaydev Unadkat and Nair notched up 91 runs for the eighth wicket.

The left arm pacer fell a couple of runs short of his half-century as he was caught by Suryakumar Yadav off Nayar’s bowling, who returned with the figures of 3/35 in 19 overs. Karun Nair, who missed out on a deserved century was the last man to be dismissed, by Dhawal Kulkarni. Iqbal Abdullah and Jay Bista got 2 scalps each.

With a lead of 297 runs, Mumbai did not enforce the follow-on, however, they did not have a good start in the second innings as Akhil Herwadkar was bowled by Jayant Yadav for just 1 run. Only 4 balls were possible in the second innings as Mumbai ended Day 3 at 2/1.

This will not bother them much as with 299 runs in hand and a plethora of batting to follow, Mumbai will look forward to closing out the match as soon as possible.

Mumbai makes it big

Earlier, day 2 of the Irani Cup went from bad to worse for Rest Of India(ROI) as after Jay Bista it was Suryakumar Yadav’s turn to register a crackling ton. He scored a total of 156 runs. Yadav and Aditya Tare(65) virtually ensured Mumbai will not lose the game taking them to a mammoth score of 603.

Siddesh Lad did a repeat of Ranji Trophy final as he went hammer and tongs on Jaydev Unadkat to score 66, though the pacer had the last laugh. Iqbal Abdullah and Shardul Thakur chipped in with useful scores of 29 and 18 respectively to help Mumbai cross 600.

For ROI, Jayant Yadav scalped 4 wickets in a marathon spell of 41.2 overs. Unadkat and Krishna Das picked up 2 wickets apiece.

In reply ROI managed 36/1 before stumps were drawn losing Srikar Bharat for 16.

Match Summary: Mumbai(1st Inn) 603 all out; ROI(1st Inn) 306/9- Karun Nair 94, Jaydev Unadkat 48, Abhishek Nayar 3/35, Jay Bista 2/52; Mumbai(2nd Inn) 2/1(Stumps:Day 3)- Jayant Yadav 1/2