An intensely passionate spell of spin bowling from Murali Kartik sent Mumbai hurtling towards defeat in the Irani Trophy match at the Wankhede Stadium today. The home team's batsmen simply could not fathom his wiles, failing to keep the ball down as they ventured hopefully forward to smother his spin and perishing to the close cordon that crouched around in predatory fashion.

The left armer's raw energy was apparent, bounding down the track after each delivery, jumping two feet in the air when the batsman was beaten, even locking eyeballs with the batsman in a withering glare when he had the temerity to strike a boundary. Kartik's unchanged spell of 19 overs from the Tata end produced the standout figures of 5/58 as Mumbai closed the day on 145/5, just 16 runs ahead of Rest of India who were bowled out for 389 after lunch.

Going into the second innings facing a deficit of 129, Mumbai openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane chiselled away at that figure with a productive opening stand of 89. Mane was eager to pull anything slightly short of a length, surviving despite two fielders being stationed on the fence backward of square on the onside. Jaffer played several exquisite strokes, in particular a couple of extra cover drives of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, as Mumbai looked like making a real fight of this contest.

Murali Kartik was introduced in the 16th over and had Mane in some bother rightaway. The 18-year-old cut Kartik agonisingly wide of Ramesh at second slip to the boundary, the Tamil Nadu opener's reflexes seeming too slow for him to be fielding close to the wicket. Jaffer however laid into Kartik for three boundaries in one over, an uppish slice through the vacant gully followed by two drives along the carpet square on the off side.

At the other end Sharandeep Singh kept the pressure on with a skillfuly controlled display of off spin. Ramesh blotted his copybook further by dropping Mane as the batsman turned Sharandeep into his midriff at leg slip. Finally Kartik lured him into stepping to the pitch of the ball and driving aerially through midon but Sharandeep covered quick ground to his left and brought off a fine catch just inches off the ground.

As in the first innings, Mane simply did not have the patience to stick around longer, but he'll probably learn not to throw away his wicket as he gets more experience. Considering this is first class debut, the Shardashram teenager could have been forgiven. The manner of Jaffer's dismissal was much less easy to stomach. Just after posting his second half century of the match, Jaffer charged Kartik wildly, trying to waft the ball over mid on and getting a leading edge to Nehra at midoff.

After an unsteady beginning, Kiran Powar played several productive strokes, cover driving both spinners powerfully off the backfoot. Kartik was not to be denied however, having him caught by Kaif at forward short leg for 24 as the batsman played forward with bat and pad close together. Kartik made it four out of four in his next over when lefthander Nishit Shetty lobbed a simple catch to Jacob Martin at silly point for a five ball duck to leave Mumbai at 123/4. Soon after, Samir Dighe became his fifth victim, the ball ballooning up this time to Laxman at first slip.

Sharandeep Singh was an able accomplice at the pavilion end, bowling nine testing overs for just eleven runs until Laxman bafflingly replaced him with pace to give Mumbai some breathing space. Majumdar (21) and Paras Mhambrey (2) weathered the next six overs until stumps intervened to separate Kartik's pincer grip over the Mumbai batsmen.

Earlier Rest's hopes of taking a sizable lead over their opponents vanished in a trice when VVS Laxman departed for 167 in the sixth over of the morning. The Hyderabadi is a notoriously tentative starter early in the day or in the innings and Santosh Saxena elicited an edge to Majumdar at second slip as Laxman drove well away from his body outside off stump.

Martin, who offered two sharp chances last evening, continued his charmed life, edging the luckless Mhambrey low between first and second slips for a boundary. He reached his fifty off 107 balls but soon after, played on to Saxena, his middle stump knocked clean out of the ground for 57.

Saxena was bowling with fire, beating the bat often, especially that of Ratra who didn't distinguish himself in a 48 ball outing in the middle, producing seven runs, before giving Majumdar a simple slip catch off Rajesh Pawar. Without any addition to the score of 349, Laxmi Ratan Shukla joined his partner in the dressing room.

Shukla had earlier heaved a well pitched up delivery from Kulkarni over long on for six, the first of the innings, with his feet glued to the crease. Now, having made 12, he decided to step down the track and despatch the same bowler into the deeper recesses of the onside, and the leading edge was snaffled by Pawar running in from backward point. It was Kulkarni's first wicket in his 37th over after a long and arduous toil.

Sharandeep Singh gives the impression of being very workmanlike at the crease, always looking to get a move on with the score by pushing the ball into the gaps. His best shot was the cut off the backfoot square of the wicket on the off side, which he twice unleashed for boundaries to point, either side of lunch.

In the second over after the interval, he was caught at slip by Jaffer off Kulkarni for 26 (36 balls, 4 fours) and two balls later the bowler polished off the innings, having Nehra caught splendidly off a top edge by Mane, running backwards from short leg, for a duck. The Rest innings terminated in the 134th over, Kulkarni and Saxena finishing with three scalps apiece.

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