Looking at the Wankhede Stadium wicket on Friday, it appeared as if Bengal were only cursing their luck that Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer were available for this all-important match.If not for the two Mumbai batting stalwarts, the visitors did well to maintain a neat line and length throughout the day. Going by the way Mumbai kept cruising when Tendulkar and Jaffer were batting, there wasn’t much doubt that Mumbai would manage more than 300 runs on Day One. It was, however, the consistency on part of Sourav Ganguly and Sourashish Lahiri that saved visitors the blushes. Ganguly’s 15 overs only 29 runs as he clearly remained the bowler of the day. Though he picked up only one wicket, there was swing that gave Ganguly the edge. In fact, there were a couple of appeals could’ve turned into important dismissals and changed the course of the match, if not for the bowler’s bad luck. Lahiri, on the other hand, remained a bit expensive but survived to pick the all-important wickets of Tendulkar and Jaffer. “Looking back at how the day went, we did a fine job after winning the toss and electing to field,’’ Bengal coach Paras Mhambrey announced after the day’s play.When Mumbai’s chance comes to bowl, they might keenly miss an extra spinner, an option they didn’t choose by deciding to rest left-arm bowler Nilesh Kulkarni. The hosts, however, have the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar in the side, capable of winning them the match between themselves. “It will only get interesting from here,’’ Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar said after the bails were taken off.
