Shams Mulani and Yashasvi Jaiswal emerged as the stars of the day as Mumbai had Uttarakhand on the mat on the third day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Alur Cricket Ground 2 on Wednesday.
Mulani’s fifth five-wicket haul (5/39) of the season meant Mumbai bundled out Uttarakhand for a paltry 114 runs at lunch. Despite a match-winning lead of 533 runs, Mumbai opted to give its top-order another go at the Uttarakhand bowlers.
Jaiswal (103, 150b, 10x4, 2x6), playing only his second First Class match, then made the most of the opportunity to lead the run-feast. At stumps, with captain Prithvi Shaw and Aditya Tare, promoted in the order in a bid to boost his confidence, also scoring fifties, Mumbai was 261 for three, with an unassailable lead of 794 runs.
Much before Shaw’s scratchy-yet-flamboyant knock, Jaiswal’s left-handed flair and Tare’s impressive driving in the last two sessions, the morning session sealed the fate of the match. It took Mumbai bowlers only 30.1 overs to snare the remaining eight Uttarakhand wickets for just 75 runs.
On a pitch that had started behaving awkwardly, with the odd-ball keeping low, Dhawal Kulkarni started the rout. The veteran pacer trapped Kunal Chandela off the first ball he bowled in the morning. Seasoned pro Robin Bist then tried to settle the ship with left-handed Kamal Singh going for his shots.
Kamal was fortunate to have been caught behind off Tushar Deshpande’s no-ball. But Deshpande then played a crucial role in seeing the back of Kamal, lunging forward at deep square-leg to take a superb catch to give Mulani his first wicket.
The in-form spinner then went on a roll. He was aided in the field as well, with captain Shaw taking a spectacular catch diving to his right to take Dikshanshu Negi’s catch. Mulani read the conditions perfectly and switched from around the wicket to over the wicket.
It paid rich dividends as the Uttarakhand middle- and lower-order was found clueless against the left-arm spinner. Mohit Avasthi, meanwhile, got the key wicket of Bist with one that rose high on the batter and Jaiswal did not falter at point.
Later in the afternoon, Shaw raised his highest score for the season with a strokeful innings. With Uttarakhand employing spinners most of the time, the Mumbai batters used their feet well. Both Jaiswal and Tare gave away their wickets moments after crossing their milestones.
The scores:
Mumbai — 1st innings: 647/8 decl.
Uttarakhand — 1st innings: Kamal Singh c Deshpande 27, Jay Bista c Tare b Deshpande 0, Mayank Mishra c Deshpande b Avasthi 4, Kunal Chandela lbw b Kulkarni 8, Robin Bist c Jaiswal b Avasthi 25, Swapnil Singh c Shaw b Mulani 9, Dikshanshu Negi c Shaw b Mulani 12, Shivam Khurana c Sarfaraz b Mulani 7, Agrim Tiwari b Mulani 0, Akash Madhwal c & b Kotian 0, Deepak Dhapola (not out) 4; Extras (b-2, lb-2, nb-1) 5; Total (in 41.1 overs): 114.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-23, 3-39, 4-71, 5-85, 6-91, 7-109, 8-109, 9-110.
Mumbai bowling: Kulkarni 8-4-18-1, Deshpande 9-2-25-1, Avasthi 9-3-22-2, Mulani 12-2-39-5, Kotian 3.1-1-6-1.
Mumbai — 2nd innings: Prithvi Shaw c Mishra b Negi 72, Yashasvi Jaiswal c Swapnil b Mishra 103, Aditya Tare st Khurana b Bista 57, Armaan Jaffer (batting) 17, Suved Parkar (batting) 6; Extras (lb-5, nb-1) 6; Total (for three wkts. in 58 overs) 261.
Fall of wickets: 1-115, 2-209, 3-245.
Uttarakhand bowling: Dhapola 3-0-16-0, Tiwari 5-1-19-0, Madhwal 3-0-13-0, Mishra 23-3-83-1, Bista 8-0-46-1, Negi 5-0-31-1, Swapnil 11-3-48-0.
