INDORE: Magnificent 90 runs knock by skipper Parthiv Patel and equally good 77 and 45 runs innings by Manprit Juneja and Bhargav Merai respectively helped Gujarat to gain the upper hand in the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai.

Although Aditya Tare’s team fought back with some quick wickets in the third and final session of the day, they were poor with their catching.

At close of day 2 play here at Indore’s Holkar Stadium, Gujarat are 291/6, gaining a handy lead of 63 with Rush Kalaria and Chirag Gandhi at the middle scoring 17 and 16 respectively.

It was a day completely dominated by Gujarat. After losing the openers early, Patel took charge of proceedings and added 69 runs for the third wicket along with Bhargav Merai (45) and later 120 runs for fourth wicket with Merai (77) before Mumbai threatened to make a comeback by picking up three wickets in a gap of 38 runs. However, Chirag Gandhi (17*) and Rush Kalaria (16*) made sure no more damage is done before stumps.

Abhishek Nayar was pick of the bowlers for the defending champions finishing the day at 91/3, while Shardul Thakur 2/67. On Day 3, Gujarat would hope to take their lead beyond 150 runs and virtually eliminate the chance of losing the match while Mumbai would want to bowl the opposition out as cheaply as possible.

BRIEF SCORES: Mumbai I innings – 228 all out (P Shaw 71, S Yadav 57, A Nayar 35; RP Singh 2/48, C Gaja 2/46, R Bhatt 2/5); Gujarat I innings – 291 for six (B Merai 45, P Patel 90, M Juneja 77; S Thakur 2/67, A Nayar 3/91).

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