Here's some hope

Fifer by spinner Shashank Attarde followed by Sarfaraz Khan's unbeaten half century provide Mumbai some oxygen on Day Two of Ranji Trophy tie against Karnataka at MCA-BKC ground

Staging a fightback reminiscent of their golden days, first with the ball and then with the bat, Mumbai gave themselves a slim chance to pull off the victory against arch-foes Karnataka on Day Two of their four-day Ranji Trophy league game at the MCA's BKC ground on Saturday.

If it was spinners Shashank Attarde (5-58) and Shams Mulani (3-55) who did the trick in the beginning to reduce Karnataka's first innings lead to a narrow 24 runs, it was Sarfaraz Khan (53*), playing his first game for Mumbai after three years, and Mulani (31) who lifted the home team from a pathetic-looking 26-4 to 109 when the latter was dismissed off the last ball of the day.

The duo's stubborn partnership of 83 runs for the fifth wicket, to halt the rampaging Karnataka pacers led by Abhimanyu Mithun (3-52), appeared to have given the 41-time champions an outside chance of pulling off a come-from-behind victory over the last two days of the match but the pendulum swung back off the last ball towards Karnataka's way with Mulani's last ball departure.

At stumps, Mumbai were 85 runs ahead with five wickets in hand but with the injured Prithvi Shaw unable to bat in the second essay the hosts' are effectively down by six wickets.

In the morning, Mumbai's spin duo of Attarde and Mulani brought the hosts back into the game by packing off the visitors' batsmen one after the other after Karnataka had resumed at the overnight 79-3 after speedster Royston Dias effected an early breakthrough off the fifth ball of the morning by dismissing rival captain Karun Nair for a duck.

Jalgaon-born off spinner Attarde took two vital wickets after a good recovery worth 78 runs was staged by opener Ravikumar Samarth, who top-scored with 86 off 139 balls and Shreyas Gopal (31).

Attarde, who had grabbed a wicket on Friday evening, added to his list of scalps by sending back Shreyas and Samarth, playing this game as a last minute replacement for Mayank Agarwal, in the space of seven balls, to leave the visitors tottering at 158-6 from 157-4 in a jiffy. Mithun too was taken out by Attarde whose pre-lunch spell read 6-1-19-3. And when Mulani joined in the act by removing Ronit More, Karnataka were 23 runs behind Mumbai's first innings score of 194.

Wicketkeeper BR Sharath (46) helped Karnataka past the Mumbai score in the company of the tail and enabled the visitors' to forge ahead and end at 218.

Injured Shaw flown to NCA for assessment

Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw, selected for India ‘A’s upcoming tour of New Zealand, has been detected with a torn tissue on his left shoulder following a scan that he underwent on Friday and has flown to Bangalore for assessment of his injury.

Shaw, who has already played Test cricket, fell on the turf and injured his shoulder while fielding during the Karnataka first innings during the Ranji Trophy game on Friday and went off the field.
"He has been called to NCA. MCA got an email from BCCI. He has left for Bangalore," said Mumbai Ranji Trophy team manager Ajinkya Naik at the end of the second day’s play at the MCA’s BKC complex ground.

"He couldn’t even lift his hand. He has a labral tear in the shoulder. That much is known. He was not in a position to bat [in the Mumbai second innings]. How serious is the injury will be known at the NCA," Naik added.

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