Gujarat once again won the day’s honours, taking a 63-run lead at the end of day two against Mumbai in Indore on Wednesday. Despite losing two early wickets, Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel (90) and Manprit Juneja (77) launched a gutsy comeback, building a 110-run partnership for the fourth wicket. At the close of play, Gujarat were 291/6 in reply to the defending champions’ 228 in the first innings.
After a poor batting display on the first day, Mumbai’s bowlers fought back in the session, dismissing big-scoring Gujarat openers Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal cheaply. Bhargav Merai and Patel steadily resurrected their side with a patient 69-run stand for the third wicket. Unlike Gohel and Panchal, the batsmen never got stuck at the crease. Merai in particular, looked solid at the crease for his 45.
Patel soon got in on the act and Juneja threw caution to the wind too. Mumbai seamers Shardul Thakur and Balwinder Sandhu bowled with a lot of heart but the Gujrat batsmen’s resistance wore them down. Despite having an impressive season, spinner Vijay Gohil proved to be ineffective.
Abhishek Nayar (3/91) was one again his side’s go-to man with the ball and dismissed Patel, who was set to get to a three-figure score.
Brief scores:
Mumbai 228 (Prithvi Shaw 71, Suryakumar Yadav 52, Abhishek Yadav 35; Rujul Bhatt 2/5, Chintan Gaja 2/46, RP Singh 2/48) trail Gujarat 291/6 (Parthiv Patel 90, Manprit Juneja 77; Abhishek Nayar 3/91) by 63 runs