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Kumble does the star turn

Leg spinner and former India vice captain Anil Kumble ended his long spell in the wilderness with an explosive spell of seven for 33 to bundle out Bombay for its lowest ever score of 93, in the second innings, and give the Rest of India side a clear chance of winning the Irani Trophy outright.

On the penultimate day, 14 wickets fell for 166 runs, in a game of twists and dramatic turns.

Rest of India, overnight 213 for six, looked to be down and almost out when it conceeded a huge first innings lead of 194 after being bowled out on the morning of the fourth day for 279 a few minutes before lunch.

Kumble then bowled unchanged for 13 overs of magic that recaptured his glory days, to reduce Bombay to 59 for six of which his take was 32 for five. After tea, he then switched to the other end to wipe out the last two wickets for just one run, in three overs.

The Rest of India side, which has taken the Irani Trophy 12 times, ended the day on seven for no loss, needing another 282 off a minimum of 90 overs on Sunday, the final day of the game.

The Bombay collapse eclipsed the 99 runs which they made, twice in 1966-'67 and once again in 1995-'96, as their lowest score. Meanwhile, Kumble for his part set a more positive record when his tally eclipsed his previous best of seven for 64 against Delhi in 1992-'93. His match figures here, of 11 for 173, is however way short of his 13 for 138 against Delhi.

The morning's honours however went to Nayan Mongia. One heft blow for six off spinner Rajesh Pawar, when the Rest was on 271 for eight, helped avoid the follow on. A run later, the team was all out, leaving Mongia unconquered on 78. At that point, he had grafted for 365 minutes, playing a large-hearted innings in the team's interests, and hit eight fours off 259 deliveries.

With Aashish Kapoor, Mongia added 57 valuable runs to thwart Sairaj Bahutule's fine effort of five for 97. Rajesh Pawar with three for 78 provided admirable support at the other end.

Wasim Jaffer, who made a fine 83 in the first innings, was Kumble's first victim in the second, playing back to offer a low return catch with his score at 14. First innings centurion Jatin Paranjpe was then bowled by Kumble with a ball that cut in sharply and Amol Muzumdar, who had got 97 in the first essay, went to an unplayable ball which he only managed to push to short leg. Bahutule tried to get his bat out of harm's way but the ball bounced higher than he expected for Kapoor to take easilyy at slip. Sulakshan Kulkarni, opening for the injured Amit Pagnis, managed to resist for 71 minutes before succuming to a Kumble top spinner, losing his off stump with his score on 18. And left arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju got into the act to get rid of skipper Sanjay Manjrekar for eight, the catch off the outer edge being held at slip.

With the ball doing everything but talk, only Pagnis who came in with a runner managed some kind of resistance. The Under-19 player was unbeaten on 22, the highest individual score for Bombay in the second innings. Paras Mhambrey ran himself out rather stupidly to end the Bombay innings for its lowest score ever.

It is now up to the Rest of India batsmen, on a viciously turning track, to cope with the wiles of Bahutule and Pawar. The side needs to get 282 runs off 90 overs at around 3-plus runs per over. Or, more realistically, to survive 90 overs on a turning track that is going to test their batting skills to a considerable extent. Either way, the game is poised for a needle finish.