da brwin： Calcutta, March 15: Mumbai, took a stranglehold in their match againstBengal on the third day of their Ranji Trophy encounter here today
15-Mar-2000Calcutta, March 15: Mumbai, took a stranglehold in their match againstBengal on the third day of their Ranji Trophy encounter here today.Chasing a victory target of 380 in their second innings, Bengal were67 for the loss of four wickets at stumps. It would now take a superhuman effort on the part of the remaining batsmen to bat out theentire day tomorrow on a pitch that is helping the bowlers.Bengal have themselves to blame for such a position now. Losing thematch outright would mean the failure to add anything to their tallyof 13 points. A situation they are facing because of a decision toplay on an under-prepared wicket. It means that Karnataka who have 11points will be able to make it to last eight stage even if they failto get the first innings lead against Delhi. They would get threepoints which would be sufficient enough to take their tally to 14 andpip Bengal to the second spot in the group. The Bengal think tankshould have realised that on a pitch that would help bowlers, theMumbai team would be better off as they have more variety in theirattack.It was the day of Romesh Powar. The 21-year old playing in his secondRanji Trophy match blasted the Bengal attack after they had done wellto reduce Mumbai to 172 for six at lunch. Powar, in a 77-ball blitz,raced to 92 then finally put the match out of Bengal’s reach. He hit14 boundaries and six over midwicket of Sourashis Lahiri and lookeda strong player of the back foot. In the process he added 104 runs forthe eighth wicket with Rajesh Pawar who scored 30. The latter wasfinally dismissed by Lakshmi Ratan Shukla who had the batsman caughtbehind. Powar on the other hand fell trying to force the pace. Hetried to cut the other Bengal medium pacer Abdul Masood only to becaught by Chatterjee at point.For Bengal Vishal Yadav finished with four wickets, while Shukla,Masood and off-spinner Sourashis Lahiri finished with two apiece. WhenBengal batted, it was Powar’s turn to strike with the ball. Hedismissed the first three Bengal batsmen mixing up his off-spin withthe one that straightens up. Deep Dasgupta and Devang Gandhi bothfailed to read it and were caught plumb in front. Bothe however, madethe cardinal sin of going on to the back foot on a pitch where theball kept low. Powar then tempted Shukla into a drive. The batsmanfailed to keep the ball down and was caught by the bowler himself. Atthe period, Powar spell was 8-2-15-3. The other wicket went to RajeshPawar, who had Srikkanth Kalyani leg before. At stumps Saba karim andRohan Gavaskar on seven apiece were trying to save a match that hadalready slipped from their grasp.