November 17: The selection of medium-pacer Santosh Saxena to the Mumbai team had created a flutter in the local cricketing circles. For, here was a relatively unknown 21-year-old youngster who had suddenly made it to the squad leapfrogging over other hopefuls. But on Monday at the Brabourne Stadium, he exhibited the talent which had impressed the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar to push for his inclusion in the side.

Playing in his second first-class match, Saxena shrugged off a bad first spell to capture four wickets for 56 runs and raise Mumbai's hopes of a big victory in their Ranji Trophy encounter against Maharashtra. Replying to Mumbai's first innings score of 426, the visitors were staring at a follow-on after being reduced to 163 for eight .

Ten no-balls in his first spell was not the right manner for Saxena to parade his abilities before the home crowd. But once he was brought on from the Churchgate end, he had not only managed to iron out an overstepping problem but also inflicted three telling blows to steal the show.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 304 for four, the Mumbai innings folded up 40 minutes into the second session for the addtion of 122 runs.

The 28-year-old Maharashtra medium-pacer Milind Kulkarni did most of the damage, claiming five wickets for 72 after a listless display yesterday. His figures for the day read an impressive 16-3-45-5.

Jatin Paranjpe (91: 144b, 194m, 8x4, 3x6) and Rajesh Sutar (49: 85b, 120m, 8x4) who were in the spotlight yesterday with their unbroken 115-run association could only add four more runs. Both were dismissed in the first 15 minutes of play.

Wicket-keeper Sulakshan Kulkarni (33) and all-rounder Ajit Agarkar (43: 101b, 152m, 6x4) did the bulk of the scoring realising 68 runs for the seventh wicket.

All expectations of a Maharashtra fightback were put on hold with the early dismissal of openers Surendra Bhave (1) and Niranjan Godbole (8). While Bhave fell to Sutar's superb reflexes at gully off Saxena, Godbole played all over a Mhambrey delivery.

Abhijit Kale (39: 43b, 72m, 6x4) and skipper Shantanu Sugwekar (70: 103b, 167m, 9x4) resisted the attack for nine overs producing 53 runs before struck Agarkar a double blow. Kale's attempt to pull Agarkar found a leading edge into a diving Sulkashan Kulkarni's gloves.

Two balls later, Agarkar extended the agony for Maharashtra sending back Nikhil Dixit (0), caught by Sutar in the third slip. And when Saxena, returning for his second spell, claimed Indrajeet Kamthekar (2), Maharashtra were in a bad shape having lost three wickets within a 13-run span.

Sugwekar, stranded at the other end, found in wicket-keeper Sanjay Kondhalkar (29) a willing ally and the duo struck a 66-run alliance.

Kondhalkar, dropped by Agarkar off Saxena when he had not even opened his account, fell to the same combination. The dismissal triggered a collapse which saw two more wickets fall for the addition of one run. More importantly, it included the prized scalp of Sugwekar, who played left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar into the hands of Sanjay Manjrekar.

Tail-enders Milind Kulkarni (1) and Iqbal Siddiqui (0) staved off further embarrassment by appealing for bad light which was upheld by the umpires.

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai (1st innings) : Amit Pagnis c Kondhalkar b Siddiqui 56, Amol Muzumdar st Kondhalkar b Kamthekar 31, Vinod Kambli b Inamdar 39, Sanjay Manjrekar st Kondhalkar b Kamthekar 29, Jatin Paranjpe lbw b M Kulkarni 91, Rajesh Sutar c Bhave b M Kulkarni 49, Sulkashan Kulkarni b M Kulkarni 33, Ajit Agarkar c Sane b M Kulkarni 43, Paras Mhambrey b M Kulkarni 16, Rajesh Pawar not out 7, Santosh Saxena lbw b Sane 10;

Extras: (b3, lb12, nb5, w2) 22.Total: 426FOW: 1-97 (Pagnis), 2-99 (Muzumdar), 3-149 (Kambli), 4-189 (Manjrekar), 5-308 (Sutar), 6-309 (Paranjpe), 7-377 (Kulkarni), 8-400 (Agarkar), 9-409 (Mhambrey), 10-426 (Saxena).

Bowling: Siddiqui 18-2-71-1 (2nb, 1w); Inamdar 17-4-40-1; Kulkarni 24-2-72-5 (2nb); Kamthekar 35-3-123-2; Sane 27-4-77-1; Sugwekar 7-3-16-0, Bhave 3-1-12-0.

Maharashtra (1st innings): Surendra Bhave c Sutar b Saxena 1, Niranjan Godbole b Mhambrey 8, Abhijit Kale c S Kulkarni b Agarkar 39, Shantanu Sugwekar c Manjrekar b Pawar 70, Nikhil Dixit c Sutar b Agarkar 0, Indrajeet Kamthekar c S Kulkarni b Saxena 2, Sanjay Kondhalkar c Agarkar b Saxena 29, Mandar Sane batting 1, Sameer Inamdar b Saxena 0, Iqbal Siddiqui batting 0; Extras: (1b, 12nb) 13. Total: (for eight wickets ) 163.

FOW: 1-5 (Bhave), 2-30 (Godbole), 3-83 (Kale), 4-83 (Dixit), 5-96 (Kamthekar), 6-162 (Kondhalkar), 7-162 (Sugwekar), 8-163 (Inamdar)Bowling: Mhambrey 13-3-35-1 (2nb); Saxena 13.2-1-56-4 (7nb); Agarkar 8-0-42-2 (3nb); Pawar 10-4-29-1.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.