A strong reply by the Mumbai Cricket Association XI ensured that their MRF Buchi Babu cricket tournament first round match against New Zealand A remained evenly poised at the end of the second day's play at the Guru Nanak grounds, Chennai on Friday.

With a day's play remaining, the men from Mumbai, who were 198 for four at close, need another 132 runs to gain the first innings lead and effectively win the match. Their hopes will be pinned on opener Nilesh Patwardhan, who is batting on a patient 95 made off 210 balls during a relentless 330-minute vigil in the middle.

In a well-paced innings, the Mumbai opener hit eleven fours. Patwardhan's innings meant that his team made a fitting reply despite the other top-order batsmen failing to get good scores against a full-strength New Zealand A attack led by new ball bowlers Chris Drum and Kyle Mills.

Patwardhan's most significant partnership was with No 3 batsman Sachin Sawant who made 18 off 114 balls. The two added 62 runs for the second wicket. The unbeaten 52-run fifth wicket stand between Patwardhan and Sushant Manjrekar, who was batting on 21 off 80 balls, was the other highlight of the innings.

Earlier, Paul Valthaty while making 22 off 63 balls had provided the Mumbai innings the right direction by putting on 47 runs for the opening wicket with Patwardhan. Saket Adhikari, the No 4 batsman, was out for a duck after scratching around for 16 balls while Kiran Powar, who followed him, made 17 off 29 balls.

In the morning, the New Zealand A last wicket pair of Shane Bond, a last-minute inclusion, and Drum added 54 runs to guide their team to a healthy 329 in their first innings.

While Bond went ballistic, hitting six fours in his 45-ball innings of 37, Drum was the steadying influence making 16 off 42 balls.

The partnership ended when left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, who plays for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, snared Bond. The wicket also completed a five-wicket haul for Pawar. Paras Mhambrey who claimed two New Zealand A wickets and Nilesh Kulkarni and Aziz Shaikh, both of whom claimed one each, were the other successful bowlers. Indian discard Ajit Agarkar went wicketless despite bowling 12 overs.

On Thursday, former New Zealand opener Matthew Horne, batting at No 3, made a stroke-filled 111 runs off 141 balls studded with 20 rasping hits to the boundary while guiding his team to 277 for nine at close of play. Another New Zealand opener Matthew Bell who made 47 and Hamish Marshall who made 33 were the other significant contributors. Horne and Bell added 144 runs for the second wicket off 47.4 overs but thereafter the New Zealand team lost wickets at regular intervals.

© CricInfo