All-round Akhil enable Mumbai tighten its noose on Jharkhand

After a cracking century, left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar spun web around Jharkhand batsmen with his off-breaks as heavyweights Mumbai took a step closer towards qualifying for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament here today.
Mumbai ended their first innings on 416 with domestic stalwart Abhishek Nayar playing a captain's knock of 74 off 167 balls with seven boundaries and a six. With useful contributions from wicketkeeper-batsman Sufiyan Shaikh (23) and spinner Iqbal Abdullah (33), Mumbai got more than 100 runs from the last four partnerships.
In reply, Jharkhand were reeling at 150 for eight with another 57 runs required to save the follow-on.

Herwardkar and Abdullah were wreckers-in-chief with figures of 3/26 and 3/39 respectively. Skipper Nayar and Shardul Thakur took a wicket each. In fact speedster Shardul was brought on as the third change as left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar started proceedings with India discard Dhawal Kulkarni.
Opener Anand Singh has been the top-scorer so far with 39 while Kaushal Singh (22 batting) is the only other player to cross 20-run mark.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 1st Innings 416 (Akhil Herwadkar 102, Suryakumar Yadav 75, Abhishek Nayar 74, Shahbaz nadeem 5/140); Jharkhand 1st Innings 150/8 (Anand Singh 39, Akhil Herwadkar 3/26, Iqbal Abdullah 3/39). Match to continue.