It’s a google: Leggie walks tall on pacy track

bat again, the hosts capitulated to 122 a little after lunch as leggie Sairaj Bahutule returned with figures of 5/21 in just 13.2 overs. For Baroda the rookie batsman Rakesh Solanki emerged highest scorer with 38 runs.

	SCOREBOARD
BARODA (1st innings): 130 all out in 43.3 overs. MUMBAI (1st innings): 390 all out in 123.3 overs. BARODA (2nd innings): Connor Williams c W Jaffer b Ramesh Powar 6 (32m, 38b, 1×4), Satyajit Parab b Aavishkar Salvi 19 (61m, 41b,3×4), Rakesh Solanki c&b Sairaj Bahutule 38 (141m, 104b, 5×4), Dhiren Salvi c Vinayak Samant bA Salvi 0 (2m, 3b), Tushar Arothe c Vinayak Mane b Ajit Agarkar 1 (13m, 9b), Ajit Bhoite c A Salvi b S Bahutule 19 (73m, 41b, 3×4), Nayan Mongia c A Agarkar b R Powar 6 (36m, 30b), Irfan Pathan-jr b S Bahutule 0 (26b, 30m), Rakesh Patel lbw b S Bahutule 0 (14b, 16m), Zaheer Khan st Vinayak Samant b 15 (14b, 12m, 2×6), Valmik Buch not out 0 (4m, 1b). Extras: 14 (b-5, nb-7, w-2). Total: 122 all out in 51.2 overs. Fall of wicket: 1-16 (C Williams), 2-36 (S Parab), 3-36 (D Salvi), 4-40 (T Arothe), 5-90 (A Bhoite), 6-102 (R Solanki), 7-102 (N Mongia), 8-106 (R Patel), 9-115 (I Pathan-jr). Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 9-5-10-1, Aavishkar Salvi 7-2-13-2, Sairaj Bahutule 13.2-4-21-5, Ramesh Powar 17-4-58-2, Paras Mhambray 5-2-15-0.

The Baroda openers were a big disappointment in both the innings. With skipper Connor Williams out late on Saturday, it was left to Satyajit Parab to anchor the ship. But Parab did not last long as he played Aavishkar Salvi onto his stumps in just the fifth over of the day. Salvi in the same over had debutant Dhiren Salvi edging to the wicketkeeper and this triggered the Baroda collapse.

What followed was a to-and-fro march between the pitch and pavilion, except for a 50-run partnership between Solanki and Ajit Bhoite. But it all ended when Bahutule claimed his fifth wicket with ’keeper Vinayak Samant flicking off the bails as Zaheer Khan stepped out to attempt his third sixer but was beaten by the turn.

In between Bahutule claimed Ajit Bhoite, to break the biggest stand of the Baroda innings, Salvi catching him at long-off. Solanki was caught and bowled by the leggie while Irfan Pathan-jr and Rakesh Patel too were among his victims.

The surprised Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit said he never expected the match to finish so soon. ‘‘We bowled well, Agarkar in the first innings and Bahutule in the second did fantastic jobs, but I did not think the match would get over in three days.

‘‘Still there is room for improvement. We batted well in this match, the youngsters Nishit Shetty and Bhavin Thakkar came good. Thakkar played a very important role, he looked very determined, in helping us post 390 runs. But we have been struggling with our batting this season and hope to improve it for the final.’’