Yusuf Pathan, eager to force his way into the Indian team again, had an ideal opportunity to prove his detractors wrong. But he blew it away yesterday.
When the team needed him the most, Yusuf decided to go about his innings in his usual flamboyant style and put Baroda in deep trouble. The skipper was dismissed on 21 by rival captain Ajit Agarkar as Dhaval Kulkarni took an easy catch at mid-on.
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After scoring a mammoth 645 for nine declared, Mumbai have got a firm grip on the match. Baroda were 101 for no loss at one point, but slumped to 167 for five at the end of Day Three of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final yesterday.
At the Wankhede Stadium, Baroda openers Saurabh Wakaskar (51) and Aditya Waghmode (53) gave a fitting reply to Mumbai’s total, putting up a 102-run opening partnership.
Earlier, Mumbai’s batsmen went after Baroda’s attack, but lost far too many wickets. Ankeet Chavan added only five runs to his overnight score of 17.
Abhishek Nayar could add only 10 runs to his 122, but skipper Agarkar (52 not out) found an able partner in pacer Javed Khan (43) as the duo slammed a quickfire 73 for the ninth wicket at 5.50.u00a0