On Wednesday, as the umpires called stumps, Kulkarni had dismissed two of Hyderabad’s top-order batsmen, the only to fall. His shoulders were broad as he walked towards the pavilion, especially considering that the pitch had nothing to offer to the bowlers. With this, the visitors are placed at 82 for 2 after Mumbai declared their innings on a mammoth 602-6 at the MCA-Bandra Kurla Complex ground. Till date, Kulkarni has bowled more than 130 overs in his seven innings, which can be demanding on the body, especially after bowling on dead pitches.

Mumbai have earlier played on strips in Delhi and Rajkot, also batting beauties, and with the gap between two games a mere two days, pacers on the domestic circuit aren’t really a cheerful lot.

No support for bowlers

“The pitch has nothing for us, we are trying our best to take wickets. Despite wracking our brains, there is nothing much we can do, there is no support, nor swing,” Kulkarni explained after sweating out the entire afternoon.

Ask Ajit Agarkar, who slammed an unbeaten 77 on Wednesday, about the kind of pitches he has played on this season and he agrees that injuries are bound to happen sooner than later. “I think no bowler will manage to play ten Ranji Trophy games on the trot. With the kind of pitches we have bowled on, injuries are bound to happen. These kinds of pitches take a bigger toll since there is absolutely nothing in them for the bowlers,” explains Agarkar, who has more than a decade’s international experience.

One can easily agree with Agarkar, especially after the way the batsmen have batted without giving any chance to their rivals for last two days.

More complaints

Even Hyderabad pacer MP Arjun couldn’t stop complaining about the pitch, despite taking four wickets. “You need to put more force into your deliveries here otherwise the ball won’t reach the wicketkeeper,” he said. But with opener T Suman batting on 40 and Anoop Pai unbeaten on 35, the visitors are hoping to put up a stiff challenge.

Earlier, overnight batsman Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane (137) walked out to continue from their score of 366, but the latter failed to add more runs to his kitty. The new ball did the trick for the visitors as Ashwin Yadav got the breakthrough, Rahane giving a simple catch to wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar.

Jaffer, who was batting on 204 overnight, added 52 runs to his innings. Amol Muzumdar (15) and India middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma (44) looked in fine touch but failed to take advantage of the batting track while Ramesh Powar (2) couldn’t last long either.

Agarkar and veteran Sairaj Bahutule (40 not out) guided Mumbai comfortably towards the 600-mark, which prompted Mumbai skipper Jaffer to declare the innings. For Hyderabad, 23-year-old MP Arjun was the wrecker-in-chief as he finished his spell with figures of 27-2-99-4.