The Ranji Trophy final is tantalizingly poised, with Tamil Nadu reducing Mumbai to 259 for the loss of nine wickets by the end of Day 1 at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
The hosts, who were cruising merrily at 100 for 1, paid the price for some poor batting in the second session. They lost their wickets to bad shots and, at the end of the day, were left to rue their decision to bat first in the face of some disciplined bowling from Tamil Nadu.
Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat, and for much of the first session it looked as though their skipper Paras Mhambery had made the correct decision. Openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane started sedately, determined to give their side a good start.
Mane, the more aggressive of the two in the early going, was caught by wicketkeeper Raja, while trying to fend a rising delivery from medium-pacer J Gokulakrishnan, for 13, which came off 45 balls and had two fours in it.
But Jaffer was unfazed by the fall of his partner's wicket. He settled down and looked to be in superb touch. He was harsh on anything that was short and was quickly into his stride in the company of left-hander Nishit Shetty.
Shetty was lucky to be dropped twice before he reached 20. First, Badrinath dropped him at silly point, off left-arm spinner D Dhandapani, when on 18, and then, after adding another run to his score, Dhandapani dropped him at gully, off medium-pacer M R Srinivas, with the score reading 98 for 1.
At lunch, Mumbai were 100 for one off 33 overs. Former India opener, Jaffer was batting on 59, while Shetty was on 21.
The breeze started to blow across the ground after lunch and the Mumbai batsman struggled to cope. With the exception of Jaffer, the rest of the batsmen looked ill at ease during their stints at the wicket.
Jaffer waged a lone battle, hitting some beautifully struck fours to stake his claim for a India cap, before being dismissed for 83 [154 balls, 14 boundaries], when Sadagoppan Ramesh took an easy catch at second slip off the medium pace bowling of M R Srinivas.
Amol Mazumdar, Jaffer's partner during the 43-run third wicket stand, was also lucky to be dropped even before he had opened his account.
Jaffer's dismissal set off a mini-slide, with Bhavin Thakkar, who was next in, being trapped leg before wicket by Srinivas for a golden duck.
Thereafter, the batsmen struggled as medium pacer S Suresh claimed three vital wickets in the middle of the innings to peg Mumbai back.
Mazumdar (34), Sairaj Bahutule (34) and Ajit Agarkar (26) all got off to good starts but failed to make it count for the hosts.
For Tamil Nadu, all their bowlers bowled to a plan and the results were there to see.
Mumbai ended the day on 259/9, a far cry from where they would have wanted to be.
It is a vulnerable position and the result of this game is now in Tamil Nadu's hands. A huge first-innings total will not only give Tamil Nadu a chance for an outright victory but it will also ensure that they go home with the trophy. Maybe, Mumbai's bowlers will have a bigger say on the second day than their batsmen did on the first day.
