Piling it on: Musheer flayed the Vidarbha assault.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Musheer Khan’s marathon knock – his second hundred within the Ranji Trophy knockouts this season – and his contrasting partnerships with senior execs Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer meant Mumbai set Vidarbha a gargantuan goal of 538 within the closing. Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey registered his maiden five-wicket haul in First Class cricket.
Musheer effortlessly transformed his three-hour in a single day grind into a affected person innings that lasted six minutes shy of eight hours. Even after he perished on the cusp of tea, Shams Mulani’s fifty meant Mumbai placed on 418 earlier than being bowled out 16 minutes into the prolonged half hour.
Shreyas Iyer.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI
The Vidarbha openers scored 10 runs in two overs, that means a distant dream of lifting the third Ranji title continues to be 528 runs away.
The spotlight of the day was the entertaining affiliation between a affected person Musheer (136, 326b, 10×4) and the aggressive Shreyas Iyer (95, 111b, 10×4, 3×6) that just about put an finish to Vidarbha’s hope of coming again into the sport with the ball. With Mumbai beginning the day with a bonus of 260 runs, Vidarbha had to strike early.
But captain Rahane (73, 143b, 5×4, 1×6) was free flowing whereas Musheer was batting with none bother. Dubey beat Rahane with one which turned barely to kiss the surface edge en route Akshay Wadkar’s gloves. That introduced Shreyas in and ever since he lofted Aditya Thakare over long-off for a six, Shreyas was in his component.
He negotiated the short-ball ploy employed by Yash Thakur and Umesh Yadav, and tore the spinners aside. While Shreyas was aggressive, Musheer was defiant – utilizing all his ways to unsettle bowlers. Musheer blocked any motion – flip for spinners and swing, if any, for pacers – by strolling down the pitch and specializing in strike rotation.
Shreyas was beginning to really feel the ache in his 80s and on 95, dedicated hara-kiri to throw away his wicket, holing out to Thakare at long-off. But Musheer who bought a reprieve on 114 – continued his sedate knock to bat Vidarbha out of the sport.
When Musheer and Shardul Thakur had been dismissed by Dubey off successive balls, Mumbai was 357 for seven. Mulani’s sixteenth First Class fifty and Mumbai crossed the 400-run mark.
The scores:
Mumbai —1st innings: 224.
Vidarbha —1st innings: 105.
Mumbai — 2nd innings: Prithvi Shaw b Yash Thakur 11, Bhupen Lalwani c sub (Kale) b Dubey 18, Musheer Khan lbw b Dubey 136, Ajinkya Rahane c Wadkar b Dubey 73, Shreyas Iyer c (*95*) b Thakare 95, Hardik Tamore b Yash Thakur 5, Shams Mulani (not out) 50, Shardul Thakur b Dubey 0, Tanush Kotian b Dubey 13, Tushar Deshpande lbw b (*95*) 2, Dhawal Kulkarni c Wadkar b Yash Thakur 0; Extras (b-4, lb-9, nb-1, w-1) 15; Total: (in 130.2 overs): 418.
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-34, 3-164, 4-332, 5-343, 6-357, 7-357, 8-391, 9-410.
Vidarbha bowling: Yash 22.2-4-79-3, Dubey 48-4-144-5, Umesh 25-2-62-0, Thakare 18-5-39-1, Sarvate 7-0-35-0, Karun 3-0-19-0, Taide 2-0-10-0, (*95*) 5-0-17-1.
Vidarbha — 2nd innings: Atharva Taide (batting) 3, Dhruv Shorey (batting) 7; Total (for no loss in two overs): 10.
Mumbai bowling: Mulani 1-0-4-0, Shardul 1-0-6-0.
