Mumbai Dominates Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy Semi-Final 2024: Deshpande, Thakur Shine
Mumbai showcased their prowess on the opening day. Led by stellar performances from Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur, Mumbai left Tamil Nadu reeling at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
On a red-soil, grassy field at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Tamil Nadu chose to bat first and lost to Mumbai for 146 in the semi-final. Following tea, spinners Tanush Kotian and Musheer Khan wrapped up the tail of the TN line-up, with fast bowler Tushar Deshpande chopping up the top half with seam movement and additional bounce. Mumbai responded by losing both Bhupen Lalwani (15) and Prithvi Shaw (5), but Musheer and nightwatcher Mohit Avasthi saw their team through to stumps without any more mishaps.
Chennai 146 (Vijay 44, Washington 43, Deshpande 3-24, Kotian 2-10) leads Mumbai 45 for 2 (Musheer 24*, Sai Kishore 1-3) by 101 runs.
Mumbai had dominated the first day of play because to the combination of Avasthi and Shardul Thakur. Avasthi went wide of the crease, beat the inner edge of N Jagadeesan, then hit the inside edge, causing the first batter to pop a catch to short leg for four. With an inswinger for a duck, Thakur nailed B Sai Sudharsan leg before wicket in the opening over. In the process, Sudharsan, who was making a comeback to action following a back niggle, also burned through a review.
Deshpande then pulled out R Sai Kishore (1), B Indrajith (11) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (8), leaving TN at 42 for 5. In an attempt to defend the middle order, Captain Sai Kishore had moved up to No. 4 as a pinch-blocker. However, this time, the strategy backfired as Deshpande broke past his defenses and knocked him for 1. Sai Kishore moved up to No. 3 in their home quarterfinal matchup with Saurashtra and struck a vital half-century to put TN ahead.
After being cut from India’s Test team, Washington Sundar and Vijay Shankar put up a 48-run sixth-wicket combination off 191 balls to momentarily fend off Mumbai’s blistering assault. With a flipped four off Avasthi and a forceful straight drive off Deshpande, Vijay got things moving. But after lunch, Thakur halted him on 44. He skillfully directed a ball in from above the wicket, causing it to seam away slightly and kiss the outside edge.
Had Shreyas Iyer taken advantage of a difficult opportunity in the slips off Thakur, Washington’s innings might have been ended in the eleventh over. On 19 Washington was given out lbw by left-arm fingerspinner Shams Mulani, which gave him another anxious moment. However, a review spared him; the tracker showed that the ball would have rebounded on the red-soil surface over the stumps.
Washington increased its risks in addition to the lower order after the wetness dried up, but they were unable to bring TN to 150. M In the first round, Mohammed smashed a career-high 85 off 99 balls. In the 51st over, he hit four consecutive fours against Thakur. But in the following over, his first of the innings, Mohammed was caught nicking behind to slip by Musheer, ending his cameo.
In order to finish with 2 for 18, Musheer also trapped Sandeep Warrier with his left-arm fingerspin. The off-spinner Kotian claimed two wickets in addition to dismissing Washington and S Ajith Ram, both left-handers.
After missing the previous three games due to injury, Kuldeep Sen, TN’s guest bowler, made a splash when he dismissed Shaw in his opening over. Lalwani, Mumbai’s top run scorer for the season, was leg before wicket thanks to a blow from Sai Kishore, but the home team closed the gap to 101 at stumps. With skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Iyer out of the game on Sunday, Mumbai will try to bat TN out of the semi-final.
