There were no demons on Wednesday’s pitch, but Mumbai’s slugger battled a disciplined bowling attack from Maharashtra. Mohit Avasti scored his five wickets his pull for the first time in first-class cricket and on matchday two he finished 187–5 after drawing Maharashtra by 384.
An important lunge for Group B in his trophy elite match, Mumbai was down 197 runs for him and his hopes fell on wicket-keeper batter Prasad Pawar (99 nos, 170b, 12×4).
After initially supporting Sailors in the first session of the first day, the surface of Brabourne Stadium eventually dried up. However, Mumbai’s assault division could not fire as Sarfaraz Khan was not present. After missing the final two games, Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to the crease and was caught leg-before by Pradeep Dadhe from the first ball of the innings. Coming to bat at third, it was hard to believe that Pawar would only appear in his third first-class game. With a calm and cool demeanor he forged his 79-run partnership with debutant Divyaansh Saxena and after he added 43 runs to the tally with Suved Parkar, the latter beat Vicky from the last ball of the day. Cleared by Otswal.
Pawar started with a series of restrictions that put pressure on the Maharashtra bowlers. The two looked comfortable, tricking Saxena into jabbing the ball outside the stumps and offering a catch to Saurabh Nawale from behind the stumps, before Asheye Parker lost momentum. Pawar brought up a half-century on the graceful perimeter, but when captain Ajinkya Rahane was caught by Nawale while trying to follow the delivery of Dadeh outside a stump after hitting three high-speed perimeters, Mumbai threw off the plan. lost. Armaan Jaffer also had a promising start and was caught by Satyajeet Bachhav.
Earlier, Maharashtra added his 70 runs to an overnight score of 314-6 before Avasti caught on. He attacked early and in his second over of the day he cleared Nawale 74 to 58. However, with three drop catches, Maharashtra managed to extend their lead and Pulkar was not absent for 66.