Riding on centuries by skipper Wasim Jaffer (169 not out) and Ajinkya Rahane (126), Mumbai posted a mammoth 544 for three declared and then reduced Gujarat to 121 for two on day two of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match in Valsad, on Thursday.
At stumps, Niraj Patel was unbeaten on 60 with Parthiv Patel (17) giving him company.
Rahane and Jaffer shared a 111-run stand to put Mumbai in a commanding position.
Carrying on the momentum from day one, both the overnight batsmen Rahane and Jaffer went on to slam hundreds each, while Rohit Sharma (59 not out) hit a half-century as Mumbai resuming at 283 for two added another 261 runs to the total on the second day at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium.
Rahane, resuming at personal score of 54 and Jaffer at 47, left the host bowlers grasping for breath as the duo held on to their wickets and launched an all-out attack.
The lone success for the Gujarat bowlers came when Ishwar Choudhary managed to send back Rahane in 114th over but by then he had already scored a fabulous 126 off 182 balls with 14 hits to the fence.
Jaffer, however, remained unbeaten at 169 after facing 235 deliveries, studded with 20 boundaries and 2 sixes.
He also shared another valuable partnership of 150 runs with Rohit Sharma before declaring the first innings at 544.
Replying to Mumbai's massive first innings total, Gujarat lost Priyank Panchal (7) early.
Rikin Chauhan (28) and Niraj Patel managed to rebuild the innings but soon Abhishek Nayyar sent the former packing to leave the hosts struggling at 86 for two.
However, Niraj along with Parthiv made sure that Gujarat do not lose any more wicket on the day.
Brief scores:
Mumbai 1st innings: 544 for three decl in 139 overs (Wasim Jaffer not out 169, Ajinkya Rahane 126, Onkar Gurav 89, Sahil Kukreja 81; Ishwar Choudhary 2/115).
Gujarat 1st innings: 121 for two in 39 overs (Niraj Patel batting 60, Abhishek Nayar 1/13).
Delhi gain upperhand
Seamer Sumit Narwal dismissed the in-form Sridharan Sriram in the final hour of the second day as Assam scored 118 for two in reply to Delhi's challenging first innings score of 472 in a fifth round Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match being played at the Roshnara ground in New Delhi.
With two days left, Delhi coach Manoj Prabhakar would fancy that his wards will stick to a disciplined line on a track that will definitely help the pace trio of Narwal, Pawan Suyal and Pradeep Sangwan as Assam still need 355 runs to gain the first innings lead.
Assam's outstation pros Sriram (44, 87 balls, 7x4) and opener Dheeraj Jadhav (42 batting, 141 balls, 4x4) added 95 runs for the second wicket after left-arm pacer Suyal dismissed opener Shib Shankar Roy (10) as the ball jumped on him as he snicked it to wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht.
Jadhav and Sriram especially the later scored some quick runs off the new ball with some good shots as well as a few streaky boundaries.
Just when it looked like that they would survive the new ball, Sriram shouldered arms to a Narwal delivery that moved in a shade late to clip the off stump bail.
Skipper Amol Mujumdar (4 batting) survived a confident leg-before appeal from Suyal.
Earlier, it was Pradeep Sangwan's (76, 63 balls, 14x4, 1x6) lusty hitting and his ninth wicket partnership of 72 with Vikash Mishra (4) helped Delhi reach a commanding score of 472 after they had slumped to 400 for eight from 381 for five. skipper Mithun Manhas (124, 219 balls, 13x4, 1x6) and Mayank Tehlan (83, 177 balls, 10x4) started the day at 332 for five took the score to 381 before medium pacer Ranjit Mali (3/129) breached through the defences of Manhas.
Narwal (2) didn't survive long as he was caught by Dhiraj Goswami off Mali.
Tehlan who looked confident in company of Manhas was unusually subdued before he was caught by wicketkeeper Rajdeep Das.
However, Sangwan showed a lot of positive intent as he started hitting the bowlers. With second new ball still fairly hard, it was easier for Sangwan to muscle the ball through the gaps including a few thick edges which flew past the slip cordon.
TN-Bengal day two washed out
The second day's play between Tamil Nadu and Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A was called off in Chennai after overnight rains made the pitch and outfield soggy.
The first day's play was also called off due to heavy rains on Wednesday without a ball being bowled.
With only three more matches remaining in the preliminary stage, the efforts of former India captain Sourav Ganguly to play in this match to improve upon Bengal's fifth position on the points table seem to have gone for a toss as they are likely to share two points with Tamil Nadu, if the match ends in a draw.
The result would also affect Tamil Nadu, who have ten points from four matches and are placed joint second with Gujarat. They would perhaps be relegated down the order in points table.
With bright sunshine and clear sky prevailing since morning, the teams can hope that the match would commence on Friday.
Dharmani, Kaul put Punjab in control
Skipper Pankaj Dharmani and Uday Kaul struck centuries as Punjab batted its way to a mammoth 550 for seven declared against Orissa on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match in Bhubaneshwar.
Punjab batsmen continued the run glut and batted the side to a position of strength against the hosts at the East Coast Railway Sports Association ground.
The hosts were 25 for no loss at stumps with Natraj Behera (17) and Paresh Patel (8) at the crease.
Dharmani scored 103 runs before being retired hurt while left-handed Kaul came up with a knock of 118, the best effort from his side.
The two overnight batsmen shared a 187-run stand for the fourth wicket after resuming the day at 277 for three.
Dharmani left the field when the score was 406 for three and Kaul too departed soon after being caught by Biplab Samantray off his own bowling.
Dharmani's 225-ball knock was laced with 14 shots to the fence while Kaul's was a rather sedate innings that came off 310 balls with 11 fours.
The other batsmen joined the party as Bipul Sharma scored quick 62 runs and shared a 91-run partnership with Karan Goel, who was unbeaten on 45.
Basanth Mohanty was the most successful bowler for Orissa with his four-wicket haul.
Haryana smell victory against UP
A brilliant six-wicket haul by Bhuvneshwar Kumar could not save the day for Uttar Pradesh as Haryana overhauled the home team's first innings total and scalped three wickets at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Ghaziabad.
Resuming at overnight score of 84 for no loss, Haryana openers Nitin Saini (66) and Rahul Dewan (76) completed their respective half centuries but Kumar's fierce spell helped UP to restrict the visitors to 272.
Kumar broke the 109-run partnership between the openers, trapping Nitin in front of the wicket and then had Sunny Singh (30) caught behind by Amir Khan.
Kumar came back again to haunt Hayana, removing opener Dewan caught by Amir. The Kanpur lad, who will turn 20 this Sunday, also accounted for Manav Kumar (35), Sachin Rana (16) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0) in his 30.5 overs.
However, Haryana batsmen still managed to enjoy a healthy 105 runs first innings lead and then their bowlers responded well to reduce UP to 68 for three in 24 overs in their second essay.
Tanmay Srivastava (33) and skipper Mohammad Kaif (11) were at the crease at the draw of stumps at the Mohan Meakins Cricket Stadium.
Joginder Sharma was the wrecker-in-chief as he scalped all the three UP wickets, giving away just 31 runs in his nine overs.
UP is still trailing by 37 runs with seven wickets remaining and would have to play out of their skin to save the match.
Brief Scores:
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 167
Haryana 1st innings: 272 all out in 93.5 overs (Nitin Saini 66, Rahul Dewan 76; B Kumar 6/77)
Uttar Pradesh 2nd innings: 68/3 in 24 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 33; Joginder Sharma 3/31).
Karnataka lose initiative against HP
Left-arm pacer Sreenath Arvind and Stuart Binny wreaked havoc with the ball to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 199 before the home team bounced back to reduce Karnataka to 73 for four in their second essay in the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Dharamsala.
Arvind (4/50) and Binny (3/22) broke the backbone of Himachal innings, accounting for seven opposition batsmen after the hosts were off to a decent start in reply to Karnataka's modest first innings score of 254.
At stumps on day two of the four-day encounter, an outright result is very much on the cards with Karnataka losing four of their top-order batsmen in the second innings for just 73, thereby trailing the hosts by128 runs with six wickets in hand.
Young Manish Pandey (26) and Amit Verma (20) were holding the fort for Karnataka in the second innings with an unbeaten 40-run stand after they were reduced to 33 for four at one stage.
Left-arm medium pacer Mohinderraj Sharma, who returned with a five-wicket haul in Karnataka's first innings, continued his fine showing with the ball, accounting for two rival batsmen giving away 18 runs, while Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan scalped a wicket each.
