Saurashtra’s Pujara was included in Mumbai ‘A’ to get some much-needed match practice against the visitors and he made the most of the opportunity, batting for 262 minutes for his 184-ball 87 to help his team score 232 for four in reply to England’s 345 for nine declared. Mumbai ‘A’ trail by 113 runs with six wickets in hand. For England, James Anderson, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar and Joe Root claimed a wicket each.

Pujara was slow off the blocks. At one point it seemed that Hiken Shah (batting on 84), who came in at the fall of Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket, would overtake Pujara. But the India middle-order batsman accelerated after reaching his half-century.