(Cricket News) Shardul Thakur helped Mumbai defeat Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Bandra Kurla Complex by answering R Sai Kishore’s six-wicket haul with his first-class century. Mumbai’s advantage after one innings was 207. At stumps on the second day, Mumbai were 353 for 9, having lost only to TN’s 146. No. 11 Tushar Deshpande (17) and Tanush Kotian (74) were both undefeated.
On the second morning, Mumbai was 40 runs behind TN at 106 for 7, when Thakur had gone out to bat. Sai Kishore had just torn one from well beyond to get through Shams Mulani’s defenses for a duck. Sai Kishore had already dismissed Musheer Khan for 55 in the same over, thanks to a cunning stumping technique by N Jagadeesan.
With a rasping slog-sweep, Thakur came out swinging and despatched Sai Kishore to the midwicket boundary. Sai Kishore dominated throughout a 22-over span that was only broken by the midday meal. Sai Kishore had also used turn and bounce to capture Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane (19) and nightwatcher Mohit Avasthi (2) during the lengthy session.
After that, Thakur and Hardik Tamore (who made 32) shared a 105-run eighth-wicket stand. When S Ajith Ram, a novice left-arm fingerspinner, erred too much on the stumps, Thakur lined him up and pounded him down the ground. Thakur then kept leg-side of the ball and cracked Ajith away with extra-cover or cover-point as he spread his lines further.
With a six off Ajith, Thakur stormed to his fifty and then raised his hundred with another six off the same bowler. He yelled, slammed his fist, leaped into the air, and then reveled in reaching the milestone after hitting 90 balls.
Ultimately, he dismissed Ajith for 49 off 32 balls with a 153.12 strike rate. In addition, Thakur hit a century and a half against this season’s top wicket-taker, Sai Kishore. With the second new ball, guest pacer Kuldeep Sen of TN had Thakur nicking an outswinger to Jagadeesan, bringing him to 109 off 105 balls.
With an uninterrupted 63-run partnership for the final wicket, Kotian and Deshpande further frustrated TN. On Monday, Kotian, who had earlier in the quarterfinals against Baroda struck a career-high 120 not out, will be aiming for consecutive hundreds.
The majority of TN’s workload was carried by Sai Kishore, who scored 97 runs in 37 overs of rapid fire while conceding 97 runs. Washington Sundar, on the other hand, bowled just seven overs against a Mumbai lineup that was heavy on right-handers after being dropped from India’s Test team.
Sandeep Warrier, a fast bowler, used the old ball to take out Shreyas Iyer for three runs. Sandeep cleaned him up with a fuller one to rouse TN after dragging him back with a lifter. However, Thakur altered the game’s tone and tempo.
