Bahutule does the demolition act

MUMBAI October 5: They both practise the same trade, Anil Kumble and Sairaj Bahutule. And both of them were the central characters of the 3...

MUMBAI October 5: They both practise the same trade, Anil Kumble and Sairaj Bahutule. And both of them were the central characters of the 34th Irani Trophy encounter which saw Mumbai edging out Rest of India on the home stretch by 54 runs. But it was the 24-year-old Mumbai leggie, who stole a march over his famed counterpart reaping a career-best haul of 8-71 on a spin-friendly Wankhede Stadium track today.

If Kumble logged match figures of 11-173, Bahutule tallied 13-168 as Mumbai bowled out Rest for 233 to become the undisputed champion outfit of the country.

The concluding day8217;s proceedings of the five-day contest provided an exciting fare for the goodly Sunday crowd. Rest, needing 281 more with ten wickets intact at the start of the day, had lost five wickets in the first session 85-5 and the match seemed over as a contest. But, Aashish Kapoor 50: 83b, 87m, 7215;4, 1215;6 and Kumble 46 not out: 83b, 125m, 1215;4, 1215;6 revived the Rest fortunes as the last four wickets added 108 runs. The last recognised batsman, Nayan Mongia 27 too had departed with the board reading 125-6.

The two teams were tantalisingly placed before the start of the mandatory overs count, with the Rest requiring 64 runs with three wickets in hand. However, Bahutule returning for his second spell completed the mopping up operations to give Mumbai their 14th triumph in 21 attempts of the prestigious championship.

If Kapoor and Kumble need to be complimented for their bravado, then the top-order batsmen should be blamed for the loss. Comprising the best batting talent in the country, they failed miserably to do justice to their reputation. The internationally-experienced Navjot Singh Sidhu 2 was no better, top-edging seamer Paras Mhambrey to fine-leg when Rest had added just three runs to their overnight score of seven for no loss.

Only opener Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman 35, showed some sense of application. But the Hyderabadi too faltered, shouldering arms to a beauty from left-arm spinner, Rajesh Pawar.

However, the lack of application showed by the Rest batsmen shouldn8217;t take the gloss of Bahutule8217;s performance. The youngster bowled a teasing line, inducing errors from the batsmen, particularly from the Garware end from where Kumble had demolished the Mumbai batting. His first spell read an impressive 25-6-57-5.

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The only heartening factor for Rest today were the Mongia-Kapoor and Kumble-Ganesh partnerships. While the Mongia-Kapoor association realised 50 runs for the sixth wicket, the Kumble-Ganesh alliance was worth 53 runs. Even Raju 17 hung on grimly to post 38 runs for the ninth wicket in the company of his skipper. The principal contributors, Kapoor and Kumble, used the long-handle to good effect with the 18-year-old Pawar taking most of the beating.

When Bahutule bowled Raju round the legs and then claimed last man Robin Singh Jr, in the same over, it was jubilation time for Mumbai.He, however, didn8217;t had much to say, on his exploits. 8220;The wicket was helping us. I simply went there and did my job,8221; he opined.

Bahutule8217;s 8-71 relegated Kumble8217;s 7-33 to the fourth spot in the all-time best bowling performance of the championship. He now follows Ravi Shastri8217;s 9-109 Indore, 1981-82 and Balu Gupte8217;s 8-48 Anantapur, 1963-64.

SCOREBOARDMUMBAI 1st innings: 473REST OF INDIA 1st innings: 213MUMBAI 2nd innings: 93REST OF INDIA 2nd innings: overnight 7-0 VVS Laxman b Pawar 35 81b, 137, 3215;4; Navjot Sidhu c Patel b Mhambrey 2 12b, 23m; Gagan Khoda c Muzumdar b Bahutule 13 21b, 35m, 2215;4; Sridharan Sharath lbw Bahutule 8 40b, 46m; Pankaj Dharmani c Paranjpe b Bahutule 1 12b, 6m, Nayan Mongia c Jaffer b Bahutule 27 71b, 97m, 2215;4, 1215;6; Ashish Kapoor c sub Ranade b Bahutule 50 83b, 87m, 7215;4, 1215;6; Anil Kumble not out 46 83b, 125m, 1215;4, 1215;6; Dodda Ganesh st Kulkarni b Bahutule 17 59b, 73m, 1215;4; Venkatapathy Raju b Bahutule 17 26b, 36m, 1215;4; Robin Singh Jr c Manjrekar b Bahutule 0 3b, 1m; Extras: b5, lb6, w1, nb5 17. Total: all out in 80.5 overs, 342 mins 233Fall of wickets: 1-10 Sidhu, 2-27 Khoda, 3-55 Sharath, 4-57 Dharmani, 5-75 Laxman, 6-125 Mongia, 7-142 Kapoor, 8-195 Ganesh, 9-233 RajuBowling: Mhambrey 10-1-20-1 1w; Agarkar 4-0-15-0; Patel 4-0-15-0; Bahutule 31.5-7-71-8 5nb; Pawar 31-6-101-1