Fast bowlers in clean-up act

Mumbai in trouble at 70 for five at stumps in reply to Madhya Pradeshs 192

It was a pacers day out at the Holkar Stadium as the fastmen picked up all of the 15 wickets that fell on Day One of the quarterfinal clash between Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai at Indore.

While the wicket assisted the medium pacers with movement all day,it was a combination of some quality bowling and poor shot selection that saw the visitors reeling at 70 for five after having bowled MP out for 192 earlier in the day.

Courtesy their disciplined bowling performance they repeatedly hit a nagging line and length MPs fast bowlers led by TP Sudhindra,delivered a fine riposte to Dhaval Kulkarnis effort five for 74 from the morning.

Mumbais openers Onkar Gurav and Praful Waghela tried their best to consolidate after their bowlers had handed their side the advantage,but the movement that the wicket offered,and the lines that Madhya Pradesh seamers bowled,kept them guessing.

After surviving for 14 overs and having made just 26,Mumbai lost their first wicket. Sudhindra castled Gurav. And he then trapped Waghela in front. With the two wickets,the MP bowler took his seasons tally to 37 and is the highest wicket-taker in this years edition,alongside Bengals Ashok Dinda. The focus then shifted to captain Wasim Jaffer,with his vast experience of rescuing Mumbai from tough situations in the past. After three maiden overs on the trot,Jaffer chased one wide outside off stump to be caught behind off Amarjeet Singh and the visitors slumped to 28 for three.

Medium-pacer Murtaza Ali then picked up the wickets of in-form batsman Suryakumar Yadav and nightwatchman Kshemal Waingankar in consecutive balls as MP kept its hopes of an upset alive. With one-drop Kaustubh Pawar and Hiken Shah batting on 30 and 0 respectively,and a long tail to follow,Mumbais situation in the match remained grim.

Earlier,Mumbai preferred to go in with three seamers and dropped left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla,on a wicket that promised pace and movement.

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Kulkarni trapped MPs opener Zafar Ali in his first over,justifying the captains onus on pace and gave Mumbai the start they wanted. Mohnish Mishra 33 and Naman Ojha 23 got to starts but failed to convert them into big scores.

Birla counterattack

Help,however,came in the form of middle-order bat Udit Birla,whose quickfire 63 off 50 balls with 13 boundaries saw MP counterattack after being reduced to 84 for five at one stage. Birla took Kulkarnis short-pitched deliveries to task,slamming four consecutive boundaries in one over,during a 49-run stand with Murtaza for the sixth wicket.

Kulkarni had his revenge when he uprooted Birlas stumps but a rearguard action by Sudhindra 23 runs helped MP edge close to 200. Kulkarni was supported by Waingankar and Balwinder Sandhu,who finished with three and two wickets,respectively.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 192 all out in 55.1 overs Udit Birla 63; Dhaval Kulkarni 5/74,Kshemal Waingankar 3/29 vs Mumbai 70/5 in 33 overs Kaustubh Pawar batting 30; TP Sudhindra 2/14,Murtuza Ali 2/2