Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur celebrates after scoring century on day 2 of the Ranji Trophy semifinals against Tamil Nadu in Mumbai on March 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

“I won the bet.” Shardul Thakur told R. Sai Kishore while exchanging a high-five minutes after the end of the second day’s play of the Ranji Trophy semifinal on Sunday.

While Sai Kishore reminded him that it was only for T20s, both had a hearty laugh over it. The bet, one was later informed, was that Shardul will “smash him when I face him in a match.”

On a day that was highlighted by the individual brilliance of both the all-rounders, Shardul overshadowed Sai Kishore at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground, with Mumbai’s lower order taking the game away from the opposition.

Sai Kishore on song

Shardul Thakur’s (109, 105b, 13×4, 4×6) maiden First-Class hundred and his partnerships with Hardik Tamore (105 for the eighth wicket) and Tanush Kotian (79 for the ninth) put Mumbai in command after R. Sai Kishore (six for 97) had Mumbai in trouble.

Kotian (74) and Tushar Deshpande’s unbroken 63-run stand rubbed salt into Tamil Nadu’s wounds as Mumbai was 353 for nine at stumps, an advantage of 207 runs.

The star of the day was Shardul. He bailed Mumbai out of trouble with a fearless yet masterful knock. When he took guard, with just 13 minutes remaining for lunch, Sai Kishore was on the rampage, having picked up four wickets in the morning to shatter another record. Mumbai, at that stage, was 106 for seven and in danger of conceding the lead.

Shardul didn’t waste time in showing his intent, hitting him for two fours. Even after lunch, he continued to go after the TN captain whose marathon spell was a treat to watch. While no other Mumbai batter was comfortable against him, Shardul scored 44 runs off the 37 balls he faced the lanky spinner.

He was dismissed after he reached his landmark with a one-bounced four as Jagadeesan — who had effected a brilliant stumping in the morning — took a lunging catch.

While the last two sessions belonged to Mumbai, Tamil Nadu dominated the morning session. Sai Kishore bowled unchanged from the club house end. Despite an overcast morning, he used the dampness to his advantage and broke the back of Mumbai’s middle-order.

Barring Shreyas Iyer — who played on to Sandeep Warrier early on in his innings — Sai Kishore earned all of Mumbai’s five wickets.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 146.

Mumbai — 1st innings: Prithvi Shaw c Indrajith b Kuldeep Sen 5, Bhupen Lalwani lbw b Sai Kishore 15, Musheer Khan st Jagadeesan b Sai Kishore 55, Mohit Avasthi st Jagadeesan b Sai Kishore 2, Ajinkya Rahane c Indrajith b Sai Kishore 19, Shreyas Iyer b Warrier 3, Hardik Tamore c Washington b Sai Kishore 35, Shams Mulani b Sai Kishore 0, Shardul Thakur c Jagadeesan b Kuldeep Sen 109, Tanush Kotian (batting) 74, Tushar Deshpande (batting) 17; Extras (lb-12, nb-2, pen-5): 19; Total (for nine wkts. in 100 overs): 353.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-40, 3-48, 4-91, 5-96, 6-107, 7-106, 8-211, 9-290.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Warrier 18-0-66-1, Kuldeep Sen 15-0-65-2, Mohammed 8-2-21-0, Sai Kishore 37-9-97-6, Ajith Ram 14-1-68-0, Washington 7-0-19-0, Pradosh 1-1-0-0.

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.

Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team will be aiming to continue their winning form against the 41-time champions Mumbai in the semifinal on March 2, 2024
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Ranji Trophy is coming to its business end. While non-participation of star players in the premier First Class competition may have hit the headlines, the presence of multiple stars has taken the interest in a tantalising semifinal between old foes Mumbai and Tamil Nadu a notch higher.

Boost for TN

Tamil Nadu — having seamlessly hit top gear after a slow start to the season — has received a boost with the addition of B. Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar for the marquee clash. While Sai Sudharsan joined the squad on Thursday night after rehabilitation for his back at the NCA in Bengaluru, Washington arrived in the morning after being released from India’s Test squad.

The duo trained extensively at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground on Friday morning. At the other end of the ground, Mumbai also had a long practice session. More than the duo, Shreyas Iyer will be under the scanner over the next five days.

After having made himself unavailable for last week’s quarterfinal against Baroda and now omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts list, Shreyas will be keen on making a statement on the big occasion.

The aggressive batter had a long batting stint in the nets on Thursday, but took it easy on Friday in an optional session.

Shreyas will play for Mumbai in place of Suryansh Shedge in a direct swap. It will be interesting to see if Mumbai brings in wicketkeeper Prasad Pawar for opener Bhupen Lalwani. Hardik Tamore proved his mettle with the willow in the quarterfinal, but was ordinary behind the stumps, so Mumbai may be tempted to bolster its depth.

Besides Sai Sudharsan and Washington coming in for R. Vimal Khumar and Mohammed Ali, Tamil Nadu will also be tempted to field pacer Kuldeep Sen in place of M. Mohammed.

The surface at the Bandra-Kurla Complex facility sported a green look and unless the grass is removed, captain R. Sai Kishore — the highest wicket-taker of the season — will know that Kuldeep Sen’s pace may make a difference as much as his own skilful left-arm spin.

Squads:

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi, Royston Dias, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Tamil Nadu: R Sai Kishore (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (vc), Baba Indrajith, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Suresh Lokeshwar (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Vimal Khumar, Balasubramaniam Sachin, Washington Sundar, Sandeep Warrier, Trilok Nag, T Natarajan, Mohammed Mohammed, S Ajith Ram.

Match starts 9:30am IST.