Good day for Rest and India too

The confidence was back and it showed when Chopra went in to bat late in the afternoon during his team’s second innings. A patient unbeaten knock of 26 runs could well set the base for the kind of innings Aakash may have been looking for ahead of the all-important series.

Though Parthiv added just four runs to his overnight score of 56, his neat work behind the stumps and three catches later in the day impressed the chief selector Syed Kirmani who congratulated the youngster on his performance at the end of the day’s play.

This is now a match the Rest can only lose, and they were put in that position by some accurate, fast bowling from Zaheer and SS Paul who took six wickets between them. Bowling his usual self, Zaheer looked at his best. Later, he said he believed things were finally falling in place at the right juncture. ‘‘I’ve not been sitting idle all these months. I played in a few tournaments and have been working hard on regaining my fitness. I am able to bowl 20 overs a day now and am happy to get back into rhythm,’’ Zaheer told The Indian Express.

With Rest already 200 runs ahead now, it’s time for the fourth clue to get into action: Rest skipper Dinesh Mongia, unbeaten on 2 at the draw of stumps, will have to impress the national selectors.

BRIEF SCORES

Rest of India: 314 all out (S Sriram 77, P Patel 60, M Kartik 56; R Morris 6/69, S Bahutule 3/50) and 84 for 2 (G Gambhir 30; R Powar 2/15) vs Mumbai: 198 all out (R Powar 55; SS Paul 3/43, Z Khan 3/46)