Himachal in trouble as Mumbai pile up the pressure

Dharamsala, Dec 18 (UNI) Himachal Pradash were in dire straits to save the follow-on as they were tottering at 180 for seven, still 190 runs behind Mumbai on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A Super League match here today.

The hosts stil need 40 runs to save the follow-on.

Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 324 for nine, the defending champions finished their first innings with a creditable score of 370. Mumbai tail wagged as V Samant(60) led a late fightback.

The Mumbai wicketkeeper was ably supported by I Abdulla (32) and M Hussain(16) as they frustuated the Himachal bowlers for long periods.

Himachal batting ran into trouble from the start as Mumbai pacer M Hussain picked up four quick wickets to leave the hosts tottering at 78 for four. P Dogra(42) and M Bisla(32) put up a 78 run partnership for the fifth wicket before Bisla was caught behind by Samant off the bowling of Abdulla.

Thereafter, Himachal continued to lose wickets at regular intervals to finish at 180 for seven.

Hussain was most impressive of the Mumbai bowlers. He removed the Himachal top order in a devastating spell of six overs.

India discard Ajit Agarkar however, could not make much of an impact. He was quite expensive, giving away 52 runs in his 10 overs.

Mumbai (1st innings) S Kukreja lbw b Malik 1 A Rahane lbw b Sarandeep Singh 37 V Indulkar b Thakur 37 A Muzumdar lbw b Thakur 90 R Sharma c Bisla b Thakur 13 A Nayar c Malik b Sarandeep Singh 21 A Agarkar lbw b Thakur 27 R Powar c Mannu b Bhatia 9 V Samant not out 60 I Abdulla run out 3 M Hussain b Malik 16 Extras (b 12, lb 10, w 3, nb 2) 27 Total (in 106.4 overs) 370 Fall of wickets : 1/5, 2/82, 3/82, 4/113, 5/178, 6/241, 7/254, 8/258, 9/313, 10/370 Bowling : A Thakur 35-10-116-4, V Malik 22.4-7-54-2, P Dogra 2-1-12-0, V Bhatia 22-4-74-1, Sarandeep Singh 23-3-79-2, Sandeep Sharma 2-0-13-0 Himachal Pradesh (1st innings) M Gupta lbw b Hussain 29 H Dogra c Samant b Hussain 38 Sangram Singh c Kukreja b Hussain 0 Sandeep Sharma c Samant b Hussain 6 P Dogra run out 42 M Bisla c Samant b Abdulla 37 A Mannu c Muzumdar b Powar 0 Sarandeep Singh batting 8 V Bhatia batting 4 Extras (b 8, lb 6, nb 2) 16 Total (in 59 overs) 180 (for seven) Fall of wickets : 1/56, 2/67, 3/70, 4/78, 5/156, 6/161, 7/164 Bowling : A Agarkar 10-2-52-0, M Hussain 14-1-37-4, A Nayar 11-1-35-0, I Abdulla 11-4-16-1, R Powar 13-3-26-1 UNI