The 26-year-old Kulkarni's handsome dividends on day two at the Wankhede Stadium was largely due to pinning his faith on the old virtues of line and length. The misery of the Vadodara batsmen was self-inflicted. From a healthy 123 for three, they lost the next seven wickets for 80 runs. In fact, at one stage it seemed that Mumbai would end up taking the lead. However, all-rounder Royapetta Swaroop (22 not out) and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (16) hung on to add 29 runs for the eighth wicket, which was primarily responsible for the 31-run lead Vadodara gained.

After Kulkarni's effective second spell (15-6-25-4), medium-pacer Abey Kuruvilla did the mopping-up operations to end up with three wickets for 40 runs.

Earlier, adetermined 46-run opening stand between Prayan Dave (27) and Connor Williams (29) underlined the Vadodara approach when they began the day on their overnight score of 11-0. However, once Dave fell edging Paras Mhambrey to Vinod Kambli at second slip, things brightened up for the Mumbai bowlers, who maintained a tight leash.

Kulkarni then trapped Himanshu Jadhav (5) leg before and Williams followed suit trying to loft the same bowler and ended up holing out to mid-on.Barring Jacob Martin (43), who showed admirable patience while compiling the side's highest score, the rest failed to apply themselves on a track where strokeplay was not a judicious option.

After the first innings debacle, it's now time for the famed Mumbai batting line-up to make amends.

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai (1st innings): 172

Vadodara (1st innings; overnight 12-0): Prayan Dave c Kambli b Mhambrey 27 (71b, 103m, 2x4), Connor Williams c Jaffer b Kulkarni 29 (129b, 191m, 2x4), Himanshu Jadhav lbw b Kulkarni 5 (34b,48m), Jacob Martin c Paranjpe b Kulkarni 43 (116b, 117m, 6x4), Atul Bedade c Amre b Kulkarni 26 (65b, 104m, 1x4, 1x6), Tushar Arothe c&b Kulkarni 12 (22b, 33m, 2x4), Royapetta Swaroop not out 22 (80b, 112m, 2x4), Milap Mewada c Amre b Kuruvilla 4 (23b, 23m, 1x4), Yogendra Wakaskar c Jaffer b Kulkarni 3 (15b, 17m), Laxman Sivaramakrishnan c Dighe b Kuruvilla 16 (41b, 52m, 2x4), Ashish Tandon lbw b Kuruvilla 2 (7b, 9m); Extras (2b, 10lb, 2nb): 14 Total (all out in 100.1 overs, 414 mins): 203

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-61, 3-80, 4-123, 5-150, 6-154, 7-161, 8-167, 9-196

Bowling: Kuruvilla 21.1-8-40-3 (1nb), Mhambrey 17-6-43-1 (1nb), Patel 17-5-46-0, Bahutule 12-6-14-0, Kulkarni 33-15-48-6.