Mumbai encounter Parsana problem

With Saurashtra 191 at close on yesterday, Mumbai captain Vinod Kambli seemed confident of taking first innings lead and had even fancied the chances of availing eight points. But he also mentioned casually Parsana as the last hurdle in their way. And today that hurdle proved unsurmountable.

When overnight batsman Jagdish Dhamecha got out in the sixth over of the day, Mumbai had put the foot in the door and Saurashtra, at the other end, were losing grip. But wicket-keeper Manoj Parmar joined hands with Parsana for the rescue job.

Parmar playeda few delightful lofted shots to score 53 with 10 fours. The Parmar-Parsana combine scored 120 and more importantly they were together upto and an hour after lunch. Parsana on 94 was dropped by Praveen Amre at covers off Sairaj Bahutule, Mumbai’s vision of five points was fading.

After that minor hiccup, Parsana completed his century which had 14 fours and two sixes. Saurashtra secured five points each from the two opening games and the three here takes their tally to 13. Mumbai, after the outright win over Gujarat, have 11 points from two games.

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai (1st innings): 567-5 declared.

Saurashtra (1st innings, overnight 191-5): Sudhir Tanna run out (Manoj Joglekar) 37, Jayesh Motivaras lbw Santosh Saxena 7, Sitanshu Kotak c&b Kulkarni 95, Bimal Jadeja lbw Bahutule 18, Prakash Bhatt b Bahutule 6, Jagdish Dhamecha c Suthar b Kulkarni 6, Hitesh Parsana not out 115, Manoj Parmar b Bahutule 53, Niraj Odedra c Amre b Kulkarni 5, Rajesh Garsondia not out 20; Extras (9b, 5lb, 24nb)38.

Total (for eight wickets in 92 overs) 400.

Fall Of Wickets: 1-29, 2-88, 3-156, 4-182, 5-188, 6-192, 7-312, 8-321.

Bowling: Santosh Saxena 30-8-97-1, Nilesh Kulkanri 70-34-123-3, Rajesh Suthar 31-13-63-0, Sairaj Bahutule 60-24-98-3, Manoj Joglekar 2-1-5-0.