Irani Cup: Rest of India stumble in Himalayan chase against Mumbai

Brief Scores: Mumbai 603 all out in 158.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 156, Jay Bista 104 ; Jayant Yadav 4/132) and 2/1 in 0.4 overs; Rest of India 306 all out in 99.5 overs (Karun Nair 94, Jaydev Unadkat 48; Abhishek Nayar 3/35)

Chasing 603 was never going be easy, and Rest of India had botched up the start on the second day when opener Bharat fell for 16 leaving the side at 36/1 at the end of day 2. The second blow fell in the fourth over of the day with Shardul Thakur removing the other opener Fazal. The left-hander’s tentative prod at a good length ball outside off stump found an edge and keeper Tare gleefully accepted the gift. Jayant Yadav and Sudip Chatterjee held on for a while before both were sent back in quick succession and Naman Ojha followed just two runs later.

It was left to Karun Nair to bring some respectability to the score and the Karnataka batsman proved his mettle on the day. Nair formed a 59-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson to take the team through the first half. After Jackson's fall, Stuart Binny came and went, to bring Jaydev Unadkat to the pitch. Nair and Unadkat formed an innings-high 91-run partnership to take RoI almost across 300.

Abhishek Nayar, who had earlier taken the crucial wicket of Bharat and then come back to break the Yadav-Chatterjee partnership, struck once again to remove Unadkat. Nayar's good length ball caught Unadkat stranded in indecision, and the Saurashtra bowler edged it to the second slip bringing the vital partnership to a close.

After taking his team past the 300, Nair played a loose shot, at least partially out of frustration, to bring the RoI innings to an end. Chasing a ball way outside off, his slash went up in the air and was caught by Iyer who ran in from the boundary.

Eager to finish the job, Mumbai came into bat but the play was called off just four balls later after opener Akhil Herwadkar edged a delivery onto his stumps.