Test discard Wasim Jaffer scored a brilliant unbeaten double century to guide Mumbai to a strong position on the first day of the Elite Group 'A' Ranji Trophy match at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday.
When play was stopped due to bad light, Mumbai were sitting pretty on 329 for the loss of two wickets with Jaffer batting on 206 and Amol Mazumdar not out on 93.
Mumbai suffered early jolts after choosing to bat first, as Kunal Lall claimed two wickets, exploiting the seaming conditions in the morning session. He sent back Vinayak Mane (7), caught by Sarandeep Singh at point in the fourth over to give Delhi the first breakthrough.
Two overs later, Lall struck again to claim the wicket of Vineet Indulkar (4), who was caught behind at the team total of 23.
At this point, Mumbai needed a solid partnership to stabilise their innings and Jaffer and Mazumdar took up the responsibility well.
They played in contrasting styles as Jaffer was aggressive while Mazumdar resorted to the sheet-anchor's role.
Jaffer reached his century in 175 balls while he scored his double hundred in quicker time, consuming 266 balls, in 352 minutes. His entertaining innings contained 28 boundaries and three sixes.
The experienced Mazumdar, on the other hand, did not show any urgency and made his team's intentions clear about putting up a big total. He batted with patience to reach his half century in 139 balls.
The Delhi bowlers toiled for the next two sessions as the two Mumbaikars put up an unbeaten partnership of 318 runs for the third wicket.
Mumbai coach Karsan Ghavri said they would like to go for a big first innings lead.
"We would like to score as many runs as possible and take a first innings lead. Let's see how things go tomorrow," he said.
Scorecard
Mumbai (1st innings):
VR Mane c Sarandeep b Kunal 7
W Jaffer batting 206
V Indulkar c Varun b Kunal 4
Amol Mazumdar batting 93
Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-11) 19
Total: (for 2 wkts, 85 overs) 329
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-23.
Bowling: Bhandari 14-1-65-0, Kunal Lall 12-3-37-2, Nanda 25-6-67-0, Sarandeep Singh 22-1-94-0, Bali 7-1-44-0, Bhatia 5-1-14-0.
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