Half-centuries from Musheer Khan, Akhil Herwadkar and Siddhesh Lad powered Mumbai to a commanding position on day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match against Puducherry at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Sunday

Half-centuries from Musheer Khan, Akhil Herwadkar and Siddhesh Lad powered Mumbai to a commanding position on day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match against Puducherry at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Sunday.

Musheer and Akhil slammed brilliant knocks of 84 and 86 respectively while Lad was unbeaten on 80 and batting alongside a solid Sarfaraz Khan, who was on 29, when stumps was taken with Mumbai at 317/3 in 80 overs of play. For Puducherry, Abin Mathew, Sabhay Chadha and Sagar Udeshi picked up a wicket apiece.

Earlier, Mumbai were dominant in the first session of the day as they smashed 129 runs for the loss of just one wicket of Ayush Mhatre. The openers Mhatre and Musheer Khan had struck a 54-run opening partnership with the former being in aggressive mode.

The right-handed Mhatre was eventually out for 35 off 34 balls with four boundaries and two sixes at a strike rate of 102.94. At lunch, Mumbai had reached 129/1 with Musheer on 57 off 70 balls with nine fours while A Herwadkar was on 35 off 83 balls with five fours.

Musheer struck the first ball after lunch for a four off Jayant Yadav as the home side resumed in style. Abin Mathew was the only bowler who could muster a wicket when he scalped Mhatre and otherwise Puducherry were struggling. In 35 overs, Mumbai had got to 143/1 with Musheer on 66 and A Herwadkar on 40.

The partnership had reached 93 runs with Mumbai at 147/1 in 36 overs and Musheer batting on 69. Musheer and Herwadkar were nearing the 100-run partnership playing solid cricket giving nothing away to the bowlers. Mumbai reached 150/1 in 39 overs with the partnership between Musheer and Herwadkar at 96 runs.

Musheer was on 73 in 94 balls with the partnership at 98 runs off 180 balls. Their 100-run partnership was brought up in 182 balls with Musheer on 74 off 95 balls and Akhil on 46 off 140 balls.

Akhil survived a scare when the 105-run partnership with Musheer was almost broken by Puducherry’s Aman Khan when he had Akhil caught by Samay Chadha for 47.

But then the delivery was adjudged a no-ball by the third umpire as Akhil survived to compound the visitors’ frustrations. At that stage, Mumbai were 159/1

Musheer was then out caught by Paras Ratnaparkhe and bowled by Sabay Chadha for 84 in 102 balls with 11 fours and two sixes as the home side slid to 173/2 in 44.1 overs.

Siddhesh Lad was the new batsman. In 45 overs, Mumbai got to 179/2 with Akhil and Siddhesh Lad batting. Once Siddhesh got himself settled, he got the scoreboard ticking quickly while ending up scoring a half-century of his own.

Before that Akhil was out to Aman Khan bowled by Sabay Chadha disappointingly for 86, missing out on what would have been a fantastic hundred on his comeback for Mumbai.

Lad brought up his fifty in 84 balls with six fours and a six. Sarfaraz and Lad notched up their fifty-run partnership in 61 balls for the fourth wicket. Eventually, Mumbai wrapped up the day at 317/3 in 80 overs to be in the driver's seat.