Pathan, Patel help Vadodara fight back

Vadodara, Jan 24: Speedsters Irfan Pathan (3/39) and Rakesh Patel's (4/27) deadly spell enabled Vadodara fight their way back into the five-day Ranji Trophy semi-final match on the second day of their play at the Motibaug Palace ground here today with Mumbai reeling at 109 for 7 in their second essay.

With a big first innings lead of 91 runs they had gained earlier in the day after bowling out hosts Vadodara for 142, Mumbai have taken their overall lead to 200 with three wickets still in hand.

Replying to Mumbai's first innings total of 233, Vadodara, who resumed today at the overnight score of 9 without loss, were skittled out for a paltry 142 barely 40 minutes after lunch.

But the joy of gaining a 91-run lead soon disappeared from Mumbai's face as the side set a dubious record in first class cricketing history in the country by losing half of the side within a span of 20 deliveries without opening its second innings' account.

With his fiery seam attack, Irfan Pathan began the demolition act when he scalped Mumbai opener Sahil Kukreja through World Cup probable Rajesh Pawar at point in his very fourth delivery of the innings. In the very next over, other seamer Rakesh Patel made it 2/0 as Wasim Jaffar left after being caught behind by Pinal Shah.

Soon after, Pathan struck twice in two consecutive deliveries in his second over, removing Hiken Shah and Rohit Sharma, but missed his hatrick chance as the goodlength ball slightly missed the off stump of skipper Amol Muzumdar, who fell prey to Patel in the following over to make the Mumbai scorecard read a pathetic 5 wickets for no run after 3.2 over in just 25 minutes of play.

Mumbai were in a dire straits, losing the sixth wicket of Abhishek Naik (10) with the total at 17. Thanks to wicket keeper Vinayak Samant (unbeaten 53, 7x4), Wilkin Mota (33, 4x4) and Nilesh Kulkarni (unbeaten 5), who waged a gallant fight to see the side reach 109 for 7 in 41 overs at close.

Hoping to be recalled to team India for the remaining two ODIs against visiting West Indians, Pathan, who did the damage in his splendid first spell (6-2-21-3), finished the day with a figure of 13-4-39-3, while Rakesh Patel recorded a similar impressive figure of 12-4-27-4.

Earlier, resuming at 9 without loss, Vadodara suffered the first blow in the same score when overnight batsman Satyajit Parab fell prey to Swapnil Hazare's pace. Barring a breezy knock of 70 (71b, 9x4, 2x6) by Irfan Pathan's elder sibling Yusuf Pathan, none of the Vadodara batsmen, including Irfan, could withstand the Mumbai pace attack and folded up their first innings at 142, conceding a lead of 91 to the visitors.

Among the Mumbai speedsters, Wilkin Mota was successful claiming 3 for 15. Rajesh Varma, Swapnil Hazare and Abhishek Nair finished with two wickets apiece. Yusuf, who came at number seven, was last to be dismissed by Varma, while younger brother Irfan was bowled by Nair for 11 facing 17 balls.

Scorecard:

Mumbai 1st innings: 233 Vadodara 1st innings: (overnight 9 for no loss) Connor Williams c S Kukreja b S Hazare 8 Satyajit Parab c S Kukreja b S Hazare 8 Rakesh Solanki c S Kukreja b W Mota 13 Jacob martin c wk V Samant b W Motga 7 Ketan Panchal b A Nair 0 Irfan Pathan b A Nair 11 Pinal Shah c wk V Samant b W Mota 5 Yusuf Pathan b R Varma 70 Rajesh Pawar c H Shah b N Kulkarni 1 Rakesh Patel lbw b R Varma 0 Shekhar Joshi not out 1 Extras : (lb 5, nb 11, w 2) 18 Total : (all out in 43.3 overs, 207 mnts) 142 FoW: 1/9, 2/28, 3/44, 4/45, 5/56, 6/63, 7/67, 8/97, 9/105, 10/142 Bowling: Rajesh Varma 11.3 1 48 2 Swapnil Hazare 13 4 32 2 Abhishek Nair 7 2 33 2 Wilkin Mota 6 1 15 3 Nilesh Kulkarni 6 2 9 1 Mumbai 2nd innings: Sahil Kukreja c R Pawar b I Pathan 0 Wasim Jaffar c wk P Shah b R Patel 0 Hiken Shah c S Parab b I Pathan 0 Amol Muzumdar lbw b R Patel 0 rohit Sharma lbw b I Pathan 0 Abhishek Naik lbw b R Patel 10 Wilkin Mota c S Parab b R Patel 33 Vinayak Samant batting 53 Nilesh Kulkarni batting 5 Extras : (b 4, lb 2, nb 2) 8 Total : (for 7 wickets, 41 overs) 109 FoW: 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 6/17, 7/66 Bowling: Irfan Pathan 13 4 39 3 Rakesh patel 12 4 27 4 Shekhar Joshi 3 1 5 0 Rajesh Pawar 4 0 20 0 Yusuf Pathan 7 2 9 0 Ketan Panchal 2 0 3 0.

UNI