Bengaluru, Feb 27 (IANS) Battling long and hard, Mumbai were 277/6 chasing a target of 445 against defending champions Karnataka at stumps on the third day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final here Friday.
With two more days remaining in the game and still requiring 168 more runs, 40 times champions Mumbai face a Herculean task to avoid defeat while Karnataka will close in on the kill Saturday.
For Mumbai, a lot will depend on the two not out batsmen Siddhesh Lad (41) and Abhishek Nayar (2), who is still to recover fully from a blow on the head he suffered on the first day and had to be hospitalised overnight as a precaution.
Mumbai, resuming at their overnight score of 61 for no loss, were far too defensive. Opener and skipper Aditya Tare set the trend as he compiled 98 (15×4) as he put on 79 for the first wicket with Akhil Herwadkar (31) and 76 for the second with Shreyas Iyer (50, 7×4).
Yet, the Mumbai batsmen were unable to step up the pace and their defensive approach only helped Karnataka to maintain a firm grip on the proceedings.
Tare played a few pleasing drives and when looking set for a century, edged Sreenath Arvind to stand-in wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa.
Thereafter, Karnataka came up with a double strike as an overly defensive Surya Kumar Yadav (36) nicked Abhimanyu Mithun to Uthappa and then skipper Vinay Kumar, the first innings hero with a haul of six wickets, removed Nikhil Patil (0) in the next over to leave Mumbai tottering at 237/5.
Young leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal then struck a vital blow by knocking over Wilkin Mota (9), who failed to read a googly. Nayar, who did not bat in the first innings, walked in and looked anything but comfortable as he took 41 balls to score just two runs.
Brief scores: Karnataka 202 and 286 vs Mumbai 44 and 277/6 (Aditya Tare 98, Shreyas Iyer 50, Siddhesh Lad 41 not out; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/49).