CHENNAI: A professional display enabled Mumbai to bundle out Tamil Nadu for a paltry 146 on Day 1 of the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy at the BKC complex in Mumbai on Saturday. In reply, the hosts were 45 for 2. Both the Mumbai openers fell due to lack of application. Prithvi Shaw edged TN pacer Kuldeep Sen to Baba Indrajith at slips and then Bhupen Lalwani fell leg-before to R Sai Kishore.
Tushar Deshpande (3/24) was the pick of Mumbai bowlers breaking the visitors’ top-order with accuracy and pace. Tamil Nadu skipper R Sai Kishore called the coin right and opted to bat on a wicket that had something to offer for pacers. But Sai Kishore backed his strong batting line-up.
B Sai Sudharsan, coming in after a long lay off due to back injury, was tentative and Shardul Thakur captalised trapping the ace batter right in front. Vijay Shankar (44) and Washington Sundar (43) were the only ones who could show some pluck, the rest perished due to pressure and poor shot selection. “Very pleased with the way we (Mumbai) played. It was a teamwork and we never expected to get Tamil Nadu out for 146. Actually, Tamil Nadu have the best batting lineup in the country right now and to get them all out on this score was a creditable job. We always wanted to restrict them (Tamil Nadu) to as low a score as possible,” Deshpande told this daily.
The CSK ace speedster accounted for the wickets of Pradosh, Sai Kishore and Baba Indrajith, who had had a great season this time. “All the three were good, But I actually wanted to take more wickets. But nevertheless the wicket of Sai Kishore gave a lot of satisfaction. I mean, Sai Kishore was sent (early) to see off the new ball and I was just visualizing the ball going through his gate, LBW or bowled, and the same thing happened. So I am happy with that one,” added Tushar. Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahne has been leading from the front by making shrewd bowling changes. “Rahane reads the situation well. He did well to restrict Tamil Nadu. But still it’s an open game. We have to bat well and then again bowl well because we know how good the Tamil Nadu batting lineup is,” said Tushar.
Brief scores
At Mumbai: TN 146 in 64.1 ovs (Vijay 44, Washington 43; Deshpande 3/24) vs Mumbai 45/2 in 17 ovs (Musheer 24 batting). At Nagpur: Vidarbha 170 in 56.4 ovs (Nair 63, Taide 39; Avesh 4/49) vs Madhya Pradesh 47/1 in 20 ovs (Himanshu 26 batting).