On the second day of the Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday (March 11), Mumbai took a commanding lead over Vidarbha thanks to three-wicket hauls from Dhawal Kulkarni, Shams Mulani, and Tanush Kotian, followed by fifties from Ajinkya Rahane and Musheer Khan.
When play resumed overnight on 31/3, Vidarbha’s hitters were thoroughly cleaned out in the morning session and were unable to muster any resistance. For a while, Yash Rathod and Yash Thakur gave it their all, but Mumbai’s bowlers were unforgiving. Kulkarni’s capture of Atharva Taide’s crucial scalp early in the day set the tone.
Rathod and Aditya Thakare had a quick 40-run stand, which gave the visitors optimism that they would be able to come back stronger than they did in the semifinal. But Mumbai’s spinners came to play and made a breakthrough to cause a collapse. In just 64 deliveries, Vidarbha lost their final six wickets, giving Mumbai a commanding first-inning lead of 119.
Mumbai lost openers Bhupen Lalwani and Prithvi Shaw to the new ball in their second attempt. As his partner was duped by Harsh Dubey, the former capitalised on a Yash Thakur delivery. Mumbai had a sizable first innings advantage, so at 34/2 they weren’t exactly under siege, but a collapse may have allowed Vidarbha to get back into the game.
Rahane and Musheer were unlucky not to gain a breakthrough during that point, so Umesh Yadav cast a fantastic spell on them. Against pace and spin, Musheer was nervous at first, but he calmed down with a fluid Rahane as they stitched an uninterrupted stand of 107.
Both hitters were able to maintain the scoreboard in the last session as the lead grew above the 250-run threshold, following a cautious spell until Tea. Apart from a little assistance for both pacers and spinners, the surface has bounced rather unevenly. With a significant potential objective on the horizon, Rahane and Musheer displayed remarkable perseverance to get through a challenging phase, and Vidarbha are currently on the pitch.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 105 (Yash Rathod 27; Tanush Kotian 3-7, Dhawal Kulkarni 3-15, Shams Mulani 3-32) are trailed by Mumbai 224 & 141/2 (Ajinkya Rahane 58*, Musheer Khan 51*) by 260 runs.
