14 January,2009 08:08 PM IST | | PA Sport
A seven-wicket haul by left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan put Mumbai in the driving seat against Uttar Pradesh on the third day of the Ranji Trophy final in Hyderabad.
Opener Shivakant Shukla offered strong resistance in the morning, but his dismissal - he was trapped leg before on 99 - put paid to Uttar Pradesh's hopes of overtaking Mumbai's first innings total of 402.
Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 245 just before tea and Mumbai now need only a draw to clinch the title, having taking the first innings lead.
Mumbai extended their lead - already worth 157 - to 287 as they closed the day on 130 for no loss. Wasim Jaffer was undefeated on 74, with Vinayak Samant on 53.
Earlier, left-hander batsman Shukla, 46 overnight, had shown steely resolve in the morning as he began to rebuild the innings in the company of Parvinder Singh (22).
Shukla reached his half-century by steering Dhawal Kulkarni for a boundary just behind square on the off side, but thereafter settled down to a stoic defensive game. Parvinder fell into a similar pattern, the odd boundary being interspersed with long, scoreless periods which did nothing to alleviate the pressure on the batting side.
Parvinder fell midway through the morning session, undoing all the hard work in one rash moment. The middle-order batsman uncharacteristically chased a wide delivery from Abhishek Nayar, only managing an edge which was neatly pouched by wicketkeeper Samant.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (41) joined Shukla at the crease and he began his innings with two edged boundaries which flew through the slip cordon off Nayar. The 18-year-old all rounder soon settled down to play a steady hand and helped Uttar Pradesh to 172 for four at lunch, an addition of 81 to their overnight total.
Zaheer, however, turned the match decisively in favour of Mumbai after lunch. He first sent back Shukla, although he was fortunate with his leg before appeal.
Zaheer got one to veer in sharply after pitching outside off and wrapped Shukla just above the knee roll as he lunged forward to defend. Umpire Shavir Tarapore wasted no time in upholding the appeal, although replays suggested there was room for doubt.
Ajit Agarkar ended Bhuvneshwar's stint at the crease in the next over, the batsman paying the price for attempt to slash at an away cutter. Thereafter, Mumbai's innings unravelled, the last five wickets yielding just 31 runs.
Skipper Jaffer left Mumbai firmly in the ascendancy as he and Samant made light of Uttar Pradesh's bowling attack. Jaffer cracked 12 boundaries during his 108-ball vigil, while Samant helped himself to eight boundaries.
