Riding on one-down batsman Vishnu Solanki's unbeaten century and opener Aditya Waghmodes patient, unconquered half ton, Baroda made a strong reply to Mumbai's tall first innings total in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy game here on Saturday.
Answering to the home team's tally of 465, Baroda had advanced to 244 for the loss of opener and captain Kedar Devdhar's wicket, 221 runs behind the Mumbai total at stumps on day two of the four-day clash at the Wankhede Stadium.
Waghmode and Solanki were not out on 87 and 128 respectively after the early fall of Devdhar to Shivam Dube for 11 against the listless Mumbai attack.
While Waghmode was circumspect for the large part and struck 9 fours and 2 sixes in his 237-ball innings, his second wicket partner Solanki was a little bit more aggressive in his 231-ball innings, sprinkled with 17 fours.
The duo, who got together when Devdhar was trapped leg before in the second over with 12 on board, have added 232 runs so far.
The Mumbai bowlers, eight of whom were used by captain Siddhesh Lad, toiled hard to separate the duo, without success.
Earlier, the 41-time champions - overnight 439 for 8 - were dismissed in seven overs this morning.
Hardik Pandya, back in action after a near-three month-long injury lay-off, must have pleased the Indian selectors as he packed off overnight batsman Akash Parkar and Royston Dias to finish with an impressive five-wicket haul for 81 runs, by adding to the three scalps he secured yesterday.
Karsh Kothari, the other overnight unbeaten batsman, was dismissed by Bhatt who finished with four wickets to his credit.
Scores: Mumbai 465 (Siddhesh Lad 130, Shreyas Iyer 178, Shubham Ranjane 42, Shivam Dube 37; Hardik Pandya 5-81, Bhargav Bhatt 4-76) v Baroda 244 for 1 (A Waghmode not out 87, V Solanki not out 128).
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