Sahil Kukreja blazed his way to an unconquered 89 to give Mumbai an outside chance of salvaging something against Delhi in the match they lost control of on the first day itself.
Kukreja's delightful knock in 119 deliveries with 13 fours helped Mumbai wipe out their 85-run first innings deficit in quick time and put them on course as they ended Day Two at 154 for two in their second dig on Saturday, an overall lead of 69. With two full days to go and eight second wickets left, Mumbai have to do all the hard work to put on as much on the board as possible and aim at bowling out the rivals.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (89) and Rajat Bhatia (49) missed their personal milestones but Delhi took a handy lead before folding up for 251 in their first outing. Mumbai hoped for a good start in the second essay. Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane provided just that. Having been done in by Pradeep Sangwan and Ishant Sharma in the first innings, they paid them back strongly by raising 91 for the opening wicket.
Rahane, dropped on four by Aakash Chopra at second slip off Ishant, played the second fiddle as Kukreja played glorious shots all round the wicket. He raced to his fifty in only 48 balls with nine fours while at the same stage Rahane was sitting uncomplainingly on eight.
Rahane made himself count when he pulled Sangwan in front of square for four to erase the arrears in the 20th over. Rahane made only 20 before Sangwan had him caught behind. Mumbai changed their tactics and promoted first innings top-scorer Prashant Naik at number three.
Naik was lucky as Virat Kohli failed to hold on to a tough chance at gully off Sangwan. Kukreja (on 79, Mumbai 128/1) was also fortunate when off-spinner Narinder Singh spilled a return chance. But Mumbai were happy as long as things went their way.
Delhi began the second day needing eight runs to nose ahead of Mumbai's paltry first innings 166. They met their first requirement in the fifth over of the day.
The morning hour and a quarter was crucial for Mumbai if they fancied any chance of bouncing back in this game. Medium-pacer Abhishek Nayar, who began operations with Avishkar Salvi in the morning, beat Bhatia with one that came in sharply and missed everything. He was unlucky again in missing Bhatia's outside edge by a whisker, and also had a loud appeal for caught behind negated.
Nayar's perseverance paid off when he removed Gautam Gambhir for 89 (208m, 139b, 14x4) half an hour into the day's proceedings. Gambhir added two more boundaries to his overnight 81, steering Nayar to the third man and driving Salvi off his toes to mid-wicket. When nearing a well-deserved century, Gambhir was trapped in front as he hesitatingly went forward and missed the line.
Bhatia showed the right temperament as he attempted to enhance the first innings lead in the company of wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht. The duo stayed put at the crease and indulged in singles and twos.
Bhatia and Bisht were tied down initially by Ajit Agarkar, who made a good comeback after a below-par show on Friday afternoon. Agarkar was unlucky not to have got any wicket in the morning spell that read 7-4-7-0. He was disappointed when Rahane grassed Bisht, on two, at second slip.
Bisht eventually fell for 35, driving debutant leg-spinner Bhavesh Patel straight to Amol Muzumdar at covers for the bowler's maiden stick. But by then, Bisht had frustrated Mumbai with a crucial 63 for the sixth wicket with Bhatia and prolonging the innings for 20 overs after the reprieve.
The visitors, 237 for 7 at lunch, lost the remaining three in under half-an-hour on resumption. Agarkar took two in as many balls, forcing Bhatia (49, 192m, 146b, 6x4) to nick behind and then had Sangwan edge to Kukreja at second slip. Salvi's bouncer at Chetanya Nanda forced the right-hander to edge to glovesman Vinayak Samant.