Rahane,Kukreja stand tall for Mumbai on Day 2

Making it count

When make-shift opener Vinayak Samant (13) walked back early by edging a MP Arjun delivery behind to Ibrahim Khaleel with the team on 27,Mumbai had pinned their hopes on their two youngsters making it count. And the early delight didnt last long for Hyderabad,as the two Mumbaikars stood tall under the blazing sun. When umpires called stumps,the pair had added an unbeaten 171 runs stand for the first wicket.

The two scored at an easy pace,checking their strokes. Rahane and Kukreja bond otherwise too,but with the team in trouble,the pair also decided to find solutions to each others form woes. Before coming to Hyderabad,Rahane had managed scores of 6,3,50,2 and 37,while Kukrejas scores read 90,1,5,35,0,30.

Its a bit frustrating not to score,so it was great to play for so long. We enjoy each others batting,so and we kept egging each other on today, said Rahane.

When Rahane and Kukreja came to bat,apart from sharing jokes,they had bet on who will score more runs. Rahanes 89 came off 185 balls with 10 fours,while Kukrejas 87 off 188 balls had five fours and two six.

Earlier,Hyderabad added 43 runs to their overnight score of 223. Ahmed Quadri,who was batting on 48,went on to score an unbeaten 76,while MP Arjun added only two runs to his overnight score of eight.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 266 vs Mumbai 198 for 1 (A Rahane 89 not out,S Kukreja 87 not out; MP Arjun 1 for 49).