Rest of India hit back after Jaffer's fine 68

Taking advantage of the overcast conditions, Rest of India pace bowlers Munaf Patel (3-47) and Sudip Tyagi (2-56) pegged back Mumbai's charge by reducing them to 200 for six in the first innings at the end of second day's play in the Irani Trophy at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium yesterday.

At stumps, Vinayak Samant was batting on 25 and Ramesh Powar on 10 as Rest of India led by 60 runs having scored 260 while batting first.

Rest of India found themselves on the backfoot at the start of the day after captain Virender Sehwag failed to take the field due to fever. But stand-in captain S Badrinath used his bowlers well to be on top after the second day's play.

Comeback man Sreesanth started with a probing spell and then Munaf and Tyagi ripped apart the Mumbai batting. Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer scored a gutsy 68 and Ajinkya Rahane made 44 but they failed to convert their good starts into a big innings.

Samant and Powar put up a determined unbroken 40-run partnership.