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MUMBAI: Seething after their defeat against Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai put Meghalaya to the sword and took a step towards taking the crucial bonus point – besides a win – which will keep their bid for the knockouts alive on Day One of their last Group A game of the Ranji Trophy at the BKC on Thursday.
Leading their charge was Shardul Thakur who finished with figures of 4/43, including a hat-trick in the third over, as Mumbai bowled out Meghalaya for just 86 in 24.3 overs. At stumps, Mumbai were 213/2 in 59 overs with Siddhesh Lad (89 batting, 155b; 11×4, 1×6) and skipper Ajinkya Rahane (83 batting, 152b; 9×4, 1×6) at the crease and had taken a 127-run lead.
While Mumbai chose to bat in the last match against J&K which backfired, they opted to bowl this time around and their bowlers proved it was a right one as they revelled in helpful conditions to reduce the Northeast side to 2/6 in just 3.1 overs. It was the second-worst start in the history of first-class cricket after MCC’s 0/6 against Surrey at Lord’s in 1872.
Thakur started the carnage when he had Nishanta Chakraborty (0) caught in the slips on the fourth ball of the day. In the next over, Mohit Avasthi (3/27) castled Kishan Lyngdoh (0) before Thakur’s hat-trick on the last three balls of the third over floored Meghalaya’s hopes of putting a fighting total on the board. The right-arm pacer cleaned up left-hander Balchander Anirudh (0), had Sumit Kumar (0) caught at third slip by Shams Mulani and then up rooted Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva’s (0) timber.
In the process, he became only the second bowler after Himachal Pradesh’s Rishi Dhawan to achieve the feat in this Ranji season. Overall, he became the fifth Mumbai bowler to take a hat-trick in the red ball tourney.
The first one to do so for Mumbai was Jehangir Khot in the 1943-44 season against Baroda while the last one before Thakur was Royston Dias during the last season against Bihar. The others are Umesh Kulkarni (vs Gujarat in 1963/ 64) and Abdul Ismail (vs Saurashtra in 1973/74).
Mumbai would have bowled out Meghalaya for a much lower total than they eventually did if not for the dropped catches. In the end, it didn’t hurt Mumbai much as Avasthi, Sylvester D’Souza (2/14) and Shams Mulani (1/1) wrapped up the rest of the batters to make sure Meghalaya didn’t capitalise on those chances.
Later, after losing openers Ayush Mhatre (5, 4b) and Amogh Bhatkal (28, 43b), Lad and Rahane’s unbroken 170-run stand for the third wicket steadied Mumbai and paved their way to post a sizeable total. So far, Lad has scored 462 runs in five matches this season and can overtake Shreyas Iyer (480 runs, five matches) as Mumbai top-scorer. For Rahane, it was his first 50-plus score of the red ball campaign.
Baroda bowl out J&K for 246
In a clash between top two teams in Group A-the result on which Mumbai qualification depends-Baroda bowled out J&K for 246 before reaching 29/2 at stumps on a spinning wicket at the Reliance Cricket Stadium in Vadodara on Thursday.
Electing to bat first, J&K were sitting pretty at 232/5 before losing their last five wickets for just 14 runs to hand the advantage to Baroda.
Brief scores: Meghalaya 86 in 24.3 overs. Mumbai 213-2 in 59 overs (Lad 89*, Rahane 83*). In Vadodara : Jammu & Kashmir 246 in 71.3 overs (Kanhaiya 71; Rathva 5-43). Baroda 29-2 in 15.3 overs.
Rohit sweats it out in the nets
While Virat Kohli took to the field in the Ranji Trophy after 12 years during Delhi’s match against Railways back in New Delhi, his ODI skipper Rohit Sharma was sweating it out in the nets at the BKC on Thursday to prepare for the upcoming ODI series against England followed by the Champions Trophy. He spent close to one hour in the nets, mostly facing throwdown specialists and seamers.
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