Shardul Thakur’s all-round brilliance was the central point of Mumbai’s massive innings and 70-run win over clumsy Tamil Nadu inside three days as they marched to their 48th Ranji Trophy final in Mumbai on Monday. (More Cricket News)
After his stunning 109 on the second day that handed 41-time champions Mumbai a big 232-run lead, Thakur ripped the TN top-order with two wickets that saw the visitors getting felled for 162 in their second innings in the semifinal.
Baba Indrajith (70) waged a lone battle for Tamil Nadu, whose other top-order batters walked back without any significant contribution and the middle-order too crumbled against the pressure.
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However, the pair of Indrajith and Pradosh Ranjan Paul put some resistance, stitching 73 runs for the fourth wicket.
The catalyst of Mumbai's win was Thakur’s mighty effort – 109, 2/48 and 2/16. He dragged them back into the contest from a perilous 106/7 in the first innings to a handy lead while making his maiden century across formats.
Thakur was all over TN with a two-wicket burst early on day three, helping Mumbai reduce the visitors to 10/3.
B Sai Sudharsan was given a reprieve by Shreyas Iyer at midwicket, spilling a sitter, but Thakur had the left-handed opener caught behind with a superb inswinger that took an inside edge.
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Thakur swung the new ball dangerously and snaffled the key wicket of N Jagadeesan for a seven-ball duck.
Pacer Mohit Avasthi also tasted success when he had Washington Sundar, who was promoted to No. 3, caught behind by Hardik Tamore.
With the top-order blown away, recovery was a Herculean task for TN but the pair of Indrajith and Paul did well to take the attack to the opposition and keep their side in the contest.
Indrajith was back in his elements, cracking nine fours to make 70 off 105 balls but his resistance ended after nicking one behind to Tamore off Avasthi.
Mumbai spinners Tanush Kotian (2/18) and Shams Mulani (4/53) joined pacers in piling up further misery on the TN batters, sharing the remaining six wickets to wrap up the win for the hosts.
But it was Kotian, who took the initiative with wickets of Pradosh (25) and skipper R Sai Kishore (21) before tea, while left-arm spinner Mulani, who had no wickets to show so far, grabbed final four batters to return with figures of 13.5-1-53-4.
Earlier, Mumbai were bowled out for 378 with Sundar taking the final wicket to break the 10th-wicket stand for 88 runs between Tushar Deshpande (26) and Kotian (89 not out).
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While Thakur was named the player of the match for his exploits, the game also witnessed the 25-year-old Kotian making some good strides towards being a dependable lower-order batter.
“I am taking the game as deep as I can and making a good contribution. We have a deep batting order with Shardul at No. 9,” Kotian told the media after the match.
“We have made runs down the order, most of the time our team was 100 for five but we have the confidence of reaching 400-450.
“Mohit (Avasthi) also can bat and Tushar (Deshpande) can too. We have the confidence to play session-by-session. I am happy wherever the team tells me to play and make my contribution,” added Kotian.
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Kotian also revealed his personal goals for the season.
“I had (my) target set, 500 runs and 30-odd wickets. I had made (around) 350-380 runs down the order last year. I had that in mind that I can do well this year also,” he said.
“I have one more game (left) so I will try to get one more hundred,” said Kotian, who scored his maiden ton in the quarterfinal against Baroda.
He so far has amassed 481 runs and 22 wickets from nine matches this season.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 146 and 162 in 51.5 overs (Baba Indrajith 70; Shardul Thakur 2/16, Shams Mulani 4/53, Tanush Kotian 2/18) lost to Mumbai: 378 all out in 106.5 overs (Musheer Khan 55, Shardul Thakur 109, Tanush Kotian 89 not out; R Sai Kishore 6/99) by an innings and 70 runs.
