Saurashtra pacer Hardik Rathod, who has been bowling with Jaydev Unadkat since Saurashtra entered the knockout stages helped Saurashtra fight back with by claiming three quick wickets in the last session of the day. Mumbai, who were cruising along as Shreyas Iyer-Suryakumar Yadav partnership flourished, were tested by the opposition pacers after Chirag Jani ended the stand. After Unadkat had reduced Mumbai to 23 for two, Iyer and Yadav steadily built a partnership and milked the bowlers to tip the game in Mumbai’s favour. However, later in the day the bowlers came back to leave the match evenly poised at Stumps. Discussing the difference between the morning and the evening spells, he said, “In the first spell, when Iyer was batting, he was going for his strokes and we were trying for wickets. We ended up trying too hard and either bowled too short or too full and gave away a lot of runs. But in the evening, after Tea, the plan was to limit the runs and create pressure. As runs dry up, the pressure is bound to tell.” Asked how was it to bowl to Iyer, he said, “Very difficult when two set batsmen are playing and in the middle of a partnership. You get singles from one end and strokes from the other. It can become a little difficult to focus on where and how to stop the runs. That’s when we erred a little,” Rathod explained while talking about the period where Iyer and Yadav built the 152-run stand that had pushed Saurashtra on the back foot temporarily. In their efforts to take wickets, the Saurashtra pacers with the exception of Unadkat had bowled short as well and continued to concede runs. “When Suryakumar and Iyer were playing, we couldn’t execute our plans. Suryakumar was taking singles and Iyer was playing his strokes. So we had to keep changing the fields and our bowling strategies often, so the bowling varied a little bit,” Rathod elaborated. However, after sending back Iyer just before tea, the team made their way back into the game. In the session’s break, Saurashtra went into a huddle and then came out to take five wickets in the last session. “Both captain and Cheteshwar Pujara said don’t try too many things; bowl one line and length. Force the batsmen to make mistakes and don’t vary too much. Let them play their shots, you just remain consistent.” With Mumbai leading by 27 runs with two wickets in hand, it is game on. Speaking about the match status, Rathod said, “The match is open. Tomorrow we will look to get them out as quickly as possible. Lesser the lead, the better because there is every chance of this being an outright game. Our plan is to take two early wickets and bat well,” he stated. Speaking about the conditions, he added, “The pitch looks equal for both. First day there was moisture but on the second day, it has played well. One will have to try harder on Day Three with the ball than on Day One.”