Mumbai sniff win vs Punjab

Punjab,who had begun the day with fresh and perceptible enthusiasm,now looked resigned.

Long shadows began to cover the Sector 16 ground as Day Three entered its final hour. At the crease,a sense of chaos enveloped the Punjab batsmen. All the Mumbai fielders were positioned inside the inner circle,ready to pounce either way to push the hosts further towards the brink of defeat. Kaustubh Pawar leapt forward like an acrobat to take Mandeep Singhs catch off an inside-edge from a steeply bouncing Vishal Dabholkar delivery.

Punjab,who had begun the day with fresh and perceptible enthusiasm,now looked resigned. From 37 without loss at tea,the hosts were now staring at defeat with four wickets down for 101,when they were still 297 runs shy of their victory target. On the spin-friendly Sector 16 Stadium wicket,where runs were coming hard for the hosts,Yuvraj Singh played unorthodox shots like a reverse sweep off Dabholkar that went for a boundary to put as many runs on the board as possible.

In the morning,Yuvraj had seen Suryakumar Yadav playing similar shots to nullify the Punjab spinners,especially Rajwinder Singh Golu. The Punjab left-arm spinner had made even the elegant Wasim Jaffer look ugly when he had the first-innings centurion stumped by keeper Uday Kaul with a sharply turning delivery,the last ball of the 29th over. Abhishek Nayar had met the same fate when he stepped out of the crease,only to miss the line and see Kaul do the needful. Golu was on a hat-trick and his next target was Yadav.

But Yadav completely changed the complexion of the game and ruined Golus figures,hitting him for three successive fours in the same over. In fact,of the nine boundaries that Yadav hit in his 62,six came off Golu but the left-arm spinner had the last laugh when he had Yadav caught at mid on by Amitoze Singh.

Golus first delivery of the 53rd over,which turned sharply with good bounce,caught Hiken Shah by surprise and breached his defense. With this,Golu,playing his sixth first class match and his first after two years,completed his first five-wicket haul and finished with 5/102. Bowling in tandem with Harbhajan Singh,who finished with four wickets and eight in the match,Golu bowled out Mumbai for 271.

Needing 399 for victory,Punjab began well,with openers Jiwanjot Singh and Ravi Inder Singh adding 48 for the first wicket. But a burst of wickets,led by captain Zaheer Khan who dismissed both openers,pegged Punjab back.

Brief scores: Mumbai: 282 and 271 in 64.4 overs Suryakumar Yadav 62,Javed Khan 44; Rajwinder Golu 5/102,Harbhajan Singh 4/67 vs Punjab 155 and 108/4 in 35 overs Jiwanjot 31; Zaheer Khan 2/24