ROI crawl after Mukund century on Day Four

Most of the Rest of India (ROI) batsmen failed to make an impact in the first innings,but none would have been more disappointed than Manoj Tiwary....

Most of the Rest of India (ROI) batsmen failed to make an impact in the first innings,but none would have been more disappointed than Manoj Tiwary,who got out LBW without playing a shot.

On Sunday,the 23-year-old Bengal batsman started his second innings with extreme caution but finished on a positive note,remaining unbeaten on 80. For a better part of the fourth day of the Irani Trophy,though,the crowds found themselves struggling to restrict the yawns as ROI crawled to 352 for four 382 runs ahead.

ROI opener Abhinav Mukund,unbeaten on 86 overnight,reached his century and proceeded to hit Rahil Shaikh for two consecutive boundaries. M Vijay looked in a hurry to bring up his ton attempting reverse-sweeps and even a switch-hit against the Mumbai spinners. His exuberance led to his downfall as he holed out to substitute Onkar Khanvilkar off Iqbal Abdulla for 91,having added 227 for the first wicket.

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Mukund was picked up by Ramesh Powar for 126,after which time seemed to freeze at the stadium. S Badrinath and Tiwary managed only 11 runs off the next 11.2 overs. With the Mumbai bowling continuing to look toothless,the two ROI batsmen hardly had any trouble in the centre but the innings continued to trudge along with only 38 runs being scored off 22 overs.

The second new-ball brought some respite. Abdulla trapped Badrinath LBW for 31 before Ravindra Jadeja was snared by Ramesh Powar. Tiwary took 64 balls to hit his first four. But he soon began stepping out to the spinners,getting 74 off the next 68 he faced. With the rain coming down,stumps were called early.

Sreesanth fined

Pacer Sreesanth was fined 60 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of having used abusive language against Dhawal Kulkarni. The confrontation with Kulkarni on Saturday morning seemed to get serious on Sunday with other players getting involved. Kulkarni was let off with a warning.

Scoreboard

Rest of India (1st innings): 260

Mumbai (1st innings): 230

Rest of India (2nd innings): A Mukund c Kulkarni b Powar 126,M Vijay c sub b Abdulla 91,S Badrinath lbw Abdulla 34,M Tiwary batting 80,R Jadeja lbw Powar 3,W Saha batting 5,Extras (b-6,lb-3,w-1,nb-3)13; Total (For 4 wkts,121 overs) 352; Fall of wickets: 1-227 2-231 3-309 4-327; Bowling: Agarkar 21-5-53-0,Kulkarni 28-9-69-0,Shaikh 17-4-47-0,Powar 32-4-96-2,Abdulla 23-3-78-2