Mumbai: After getting battered on the first three days, Rest of India showed some spine by bowling out Mumbai for 182 in their second innings on the fourth day of the Irani Cup match at the Brabourne Stadium here on Wednesday.
The Naman Ojha-led side were left with an improbable task of chasing 480 in minimum 133 overs. Openers Faiz Fazal and Srikar Bharat gave them a good start putting up 66 runs for the first wicket partnership. Bharat was bowled by left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla for 42 but Fazal (41 not out) and Sudip Chatterjee (17 not out) carried RoI to 100/1 in 37 overs at stumps.
RoI will further require an improbable 380 runs on the last day to win the match outright on a wicket where batting won’t be easy on the fifth day. Mumbai had a disastrous start to the day losing their impact batsman Shreyas Iyer on the sixth ball of the day. Iyer scored a duck in his last first-class innings this season while attempting to pull Jaydev Unadkat but was caught by Bharat at mid-wicket.
Iyer’s early exit meant the home side were reduced to 3/2 after Akhil Herwadkar was dismissed late on Tuesday.
Brief scores: Mumbai 603 and 182 (Siddhesh Lad 60, S. Yadav 49; J. Yadav 4/93, J. Unadkat 3/16) vs Rest of India 306 and 100/1 (S. Bharat 42, F. Fazal 41 batting)
