04 October,2010 08:43 AM IST | | Dinesh Sharma
Mumbai left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, who along with Dhaval Kulkarni helped salvage some pride for Mumbai with a ninth wicket partnership of 70 runs, feels the top order batsmen let them down.
At the end of Day Three, Mumbai trail Rest of India by 439 runs after conceding a huge 394-run lead after scoring a mere 274 in reply to 668 scored by Rest of India in the first innings of the Irani Trophy match.u00a0
Iqbal believes youngsters like Sushant Marathe, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Nair and Rohit Sharma, who played expansive shots when the surface called for more caution and sound temperament, should have learnt a lesson from watching their skipper Wasim Jaffer bat.
Jaffer (71 not out) showed patience and inclination to stay at the wicket.
"Wasim played with his usual calm. The youngsters could have learnt from him. The wicket was flat, but it is slow and low. Also, Rest of India bowled to a plan. It is also their good bowling which did us," said Iqbal.
u00a0"I had gone in with an aim to bat for long and play each ball on its merit. But we still have two days remaining in the match and will try to recover.
"We are under pressure, but we will give it our best shot. Ajit Agarkar is also recovering from his illness and would probably bowl on Monday," added Iqbal who scored 33 batting down the order.
Brief scores: Rest of India 668 (A Mukund 161, P Patel 125, D Kulkarni 5-148)
Mumbai 274 (W Jaffer 71, A Rahane 41, J Unadkat 4-41)
Rest of India (2nd innings) (A Mukund 19 n o, D Kulkarni 1-19)
