Mumbai team celebrate after fall of a wicket during the Ranji trophy semifinals against Tamil Nadu in Mumbai on March 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini
Tushar Deshpande (3/24) and Shardul Thakur (2/48) starred with the ball to put Mumbai on top following a meek display from Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal in Mumbai on March 2.
Tamil Nadu skipper B Sai Kishore’s decision to bat first backfired as the visitors were shot out for a mere 146 in the first innings with Deshpande and Thakur making life miserable for the visiting batters at the BKC Ground.
If it was any consolation, Tamil Nadu struck twice with the ball but Mumbai shaved off a significant chunk of first-innings deficit, reaching 45/2 at stumps to trail by another 101 runs.
Musheer Khan (24 not out) and nightwatchman Mohit Avasthi (1) were at the crease with Mumbai losing openers Prithvi Shaw (5) and Bhupen Lalwani (15).
Shaw fell early against Kuldeep Sen while Sai Kishore trapped Lalwani for the second wicket, but Mumbai remained on top.
On a track which had movement off the surface as well as turn for spinners, Mumbai proved to be the superior side given their bowlers extracted more support and their batters did not find getting runs as tough as the visitors.
Tamil Nadu, shellshocked by a disastrous start to their first semifinal in seven years, could not muster the courage to stage a fightback and folded shortly after tea despite Vijay Shankar (44) and Washington Sundar’s (43) rearguard act.
The horror began when B Sai Sudharsan was trapped leg-before on the fourth ball of the match by Shardul Thakur and it did not take long for the Mumbai bowlers to get all over the Tamil Nadu side in the first hour.
Mumbai bowlers exploited the early moisture with the new ball to perfection as Mohit Avasthi had TN’s leading run-maker N Jagadeesan (4) caught at short leg by Musheer Khan.
Coming in as first change, Deshpande remained unplayable throughout the innings for the Tamil Nadu batters.
Pradosh Ranjan Paul’s bat curled in his hands as he hit one straight to Despande, who took a fine return catch for the third wicket.
It was a brave call for skipper R Sai Kishore to promote himself ahead of the dependable Baba Indrajith but one that did not work.
Sai Kishore’s footwork was all over the place when Deshpande pitched one in line of the stumps to move the ball back in, pegging back the middle-stump as Tamil Nadu slumped to 17/4.
Tamil Nadu’s hopes of a revival took a body blow when Indrajith (11) was caught at short midwicket with Tanush Kotian (2/10) taking a sharp diving catch in front of him to leave the visitors reeling.
Shankar and Sundar fought well on either side of the lunch break but the pitch did not relent in giving support to the Mumbai bowlers.
Shankar, who began well with a flurry of fours, was tested consistently outside the off-stump by Deshpande, who kept moving the ball away from the right-hander.
Deshpande’s hard work resulted in a breakthrough for Thakur who had Shankar caught at the second slip by Shams Mulani for a 109-ball 44 which featured eight fours.
Having shown a little interest in getting runs, Shankar’s departure forced Sundar to get a move on.
While he was mostly resolute in defence, Sundar also had luck favouring him twice. An outside edge off Shardul had Shreyas Iyer spilling a tough chance on 11 and when he reached 37, Musheer spilled a catch at cover.
Mohammed Mohammed smacked three fours in a row of Thakur towards the end to make it 22 runs from one over, which gave a big push to the visitor’s total.