Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai suffered a dramatic collapse and were bundled out for 198 in their first innings against Rest of India in the Irani Cup cricket match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday.

It was a ball-dominated day again. After Robin Morris wiped out the Rest tail to finish with six for 69, the defending champions hit back, with India seamer Zaheer Khan claiming three for 46 and Shib Shankar Paul grabbing three for 43.

At stumps on second day, Rest were 84 for two, with Akash Chopra on 26 and skipper Dinesh Mongia on two.

It was a pathetic display by Mumbai, as after dismissing the last four Rest wickets for only nine runs, they still ended up with a first innings deficit of 116 runs. It dented their hopes of avenging last year's defeat in Chennai, where Rest overhauled a 300-plus target.

Mumbai also had to cope with the loss of Munaf Patel, who was ruled out of action for at least six to eight weeks following a shoulder fracture he suffered while bowling on Wednesday.

Their first innings failure, however, had more to do with themselves than the pitch, which was hard and offered predictable bounce.

Except for Ramesh Powar, who played a typically defiant innings of 55 that came off 86 balls with the help of eight fours, the rest of the batsmen were guilty of poor shot selection.

Wasim Jaffer fended at a rising delivery outside the off before Bhavin Thakkar was trapped plumb in front.

Paul was the bowler on both occasions.

Zaheer, hoping to prove his fitness and form ahead of the Test series against Australia, struggled to find success in his first spell but got his break in the second spell after changing ends.

Amol Muzumdar was unhappy when ICC Elite umpire A V Jayaprakash ruled him caught behind but that brought a new spring to Zaheer's step and the left arm speedster began to bowl with more vigour thereafter.

In between, Vinayak Mane was rapped on the pads by Joginder Sharma and Vinod Kambli, after a promising start, returned a simple catch to Murali Karthik.

Captain Sairaj Bahutule became Paul's third victim before Zaheer returned for his third spell to dismiss Morris and Vinayak Samant.

The batsmen's flop show undid the good work by Morris, who, in the morning, grabbed the remaining four Rest wickets and bundled them out for 314.

Resuming at 293 for six, Rest lost Parthiv Patel (60) in the second over of the day. The left-hander was bowled through the gate by a Morris leg cutter after adding only four runs to his overnight score.

Zaheer then top edged a pull for a simple catch to wicketkeeper Samant in Morris's next over.

Karthik, 45 overnight, reached his half century with a single to third man off Salvi, but after spending 94 minutes for his 56, he edged Morris for a catch behind.

The right-arm seamer then had Paul caught and bowled for one to end the Rest innings.

The Morris spell brought some smiles to the Mumbai players who had let Rest off the hook after having them reduced to 198 for six at one stage on the opening day.

The smiles, however, vanished by the end of the day.

Scoreboard

Rest of India (1st innings):
A Chopra c and b Salvi 9
G Gambhir c Mane b Morris 39
S Sriram c Jaffer b Bahutule 77
D Mongia lbw Morris 4
Venugopala Rao c Muzumdar b Bahutule 20
Joginder Sharma b Bahutule 16
P Patel b Morris 60
M Kartik c Samant b Morris 56
Zaheer Khan c Samant b Morris 0
Y Golwalkat not out 2
S S Paul c and b Morris 1.

Extras: (b-4, lb-12, nb-13, w-1) 30

Total: (all out in 99.4 overs) 314

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-65, 3-74, 4-134, 5-168, 6-198, 7-302, 8-307, 9-311.

Bowling: Salvi 26-6-79-1, M Patel 10.4-4-31-0, R Morris 19.4-2-69-6, R Powar 19-6-57-0, B Thakkar 3.2-0-12-0, S Bahutule 21-3-50-3.

Mumbai (1st innings):
V Mane lbw J Sharma 27
W Jaffer c Patel b Paul 8
B Thakkar lbw Paul 14
A Muzumdar c Patel b Z Khan 13
V Kambli c and b Kartik 20
R Powar c Chopra b Kartik 55
S Bahutule lbw Paul 14
R Morris c Patel b Z Khan 12
V Samant c Gambhir b Z Khan 5
A Salvi not out 14
M Patel retired out 0

Extras: (b-2, lb-5, nb-9) 16

Total: (all out in 52.2 overs) 198

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-41, 3-60, 4-74, 5-99, 6-131, 7-158, 8-172, 9-198.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 15-3-46-3, S S Paul 14-1-43-3, Joginder Sharma 11-0-36-1, M Kartik 8.2-1-42-2, Y Golwalkar 4-0-24-0.

Rest of India (2nd innings):
A Chopra batting 26
G GAmbhir LBW b Powar 30
S Sriram c and b Powar 22
D Mongia batting 2

Extras: (nb-4) 4

Total: (for 2 wickets in 23 overs) 84

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-82

Bowling: A Salvi 8-1-26-0, R Morris 4-0-32-0, S Bahutule 6-4-11-0, R Powar 5-1-15-2.