Tendulkar fightback saves Mumbai some blushes

Close Mumbai 272 for 9 (Tendulkar 94, Bahutule 58; Zaheer 5-74)
Scorecard

Zaheer Khan on his way to 5 for 74

A resolute 149-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Sairaj Bahutule rescued Mumbai on the first day of the Irani Trophy. Asked to bat on an uncharacteristic Chennai greentop, Mumbai were tottering at 98 for 5 when Tendulkar and Bahutule came together. On a pitch with plenty of grass on it and uneven bounce, the two batsmen rebuilt the innings over the course of the entire second session and most of the third, before both batsmen were out towards the close of play. A mini-collapse at the end reduced Mumbai to 272 for 9, as Zaheer Khan finished with a superb 5 for 74.

Mumbai had actually begun the day well, dominating the first hour of play, as Zaheer and L Balaji both struggled with their line and length. Zaheer, who had seemed rusty during the recent Challenger Series, struggled to settle into a rhythm, and Balaji alternated between being too wide and too full. Mane and Jaffer were content to let the wide ones go, while punishing anything overpitched.

Mane was in particularly good touch, driving handsomely and hitting Balaji and Zaheer for two fours each in consecutive overs, before settling down to build his innings. He played the ball late and close to his body, and his compact technique was matched by the intent to punish any loose balls which came his way.

Just when Mumbai were coasting, Bangar seized the momentum back. Bowling first-change, he bowled a superb spell, bowling wicket-to-wicket with great accuracy and getting a fair amount of movement and bounce off the pitch. He surprised Mane (26) with a good-length ball which reared up more than Mane expected, and flew to Anil Kumble at gully (42 for 1).

Sourav Ganguly bowled an accurate spell of four overs for seven runs, but it was the reintroduction of Zaheer and Balaji into the attack that put Rest of India on top. Zaheer tempted Nishith Shetty (5) into driving a wide ball, which Shetty miscued straight to Virender Sehwag at cover (59 for 2). Jaffer's patient stay at the wicket, marked by uncertain timing but solid defence, finally came to an end when he shouldered arms to an incoming ball from Balaji, which pitched on a good length, snaked in and hit the top of off stump, just as the textbooks would have it (91 for 3). Jaffer made 43.

Zaheer, redeeming himself for his first spell with some fiery bowling, then picked up two wickets in quick succession. Vinod Kambli (2), making a much hyped comeback, was caught on his crease by an incoming ball and rightly adjudged lbw (98 for 4). Ajit Agarkar walked in and edged a ball angled across him to Parthiv Patel (98 for 5).

Tendulkar and Bahutule applied themselves superbly after lunch, though Bahutule was lucky to get away with a couple of lbw appeals off Ganguly. In both cases the ball pitched on line and straightened. In the first case, where the ball had kept low, Bahutule was plumb; the second decision was less controversial only by the standards of the first. A couple of Bahutule's fours were uppishly hit, but apart from that he was impeccably solid, a perfect foil to a patient Tendulkar.

Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were brought on in the hour before tea, and bowled testing spells. Both of them were unafraid to give the ball a tweak, and the battle between Harbhajan and Tendulkar, in particular, was riveting. Tendulkar, after cover-driving him for four early on in his spell, swung Harbhajan thrice to the midwicket boundary, once from outside off. He continued attacking Harbhajan after tea, and Bahutule also played him with positive intent.

The second new ball, and a change in approach from Tendulkar, brought about the end of the partnership. Tendulkar, perhaps in a hurry to get to his century, unleashed two gorgeous pulls to the boundary off Zaheer. But in the same over he flashed at a snorter outside off stump and Rahul Dravid, keeping wicket in place of the indisposed Parthiv Patel, caught the resultant edge easily (247 for 6). Tendulkar's 94 had come off 197 balls, and showed a grim determination to play a big innings instead of the instinct to dominate that so many of his fans have come to expect from him.

It was time for a legspinner to take the new ball, and Kumble came back into the attack and picked up two quick wickets. First, he deceived Bahutule (58 off 183) with his flight and got him to miscue a ball on leg stump to VVS Laxman at short midwicket (260 for 7). Then he speared in a yorker that bowled Ramesh Powar, Mumbai's lower-order hero for much of the last Ranji Trophy season, for zero (260 for 8). Vinayak Samant was then trapped lbw by Zaheer who had, after his disappointing first spell, redeemed himself magnificently with a five-for. Would any of Mumbai's bowlers be able to match him on day 2?