Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani’s five-wicket haul was well complimented by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden hundred as the 41-time Ranji Trophy Champions Mumbai put themselves in the driver’s seat on the third day of their quarter-final against Uttarakhand here on Wednesday.
After the third day’s play, Mumbai’s overall lead stood at a staggering 794 runs and with that they seemed to have put one-foot in the semi-final.
After Mumbai posted a mammoth 647/8 declared in their first essay courtesy a maiden double hundred by debutant Suved Parkar, in-form Mulani run riot as Uttarakhand was bundled out for a meagre 114 in their first innings.
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Mumbai thus obtained a massive 533-run first innings lead.
Skipper Prithvi Shaw, however did not enforce the follow-on and in the second essay, it was a Jaiswal (103) show as the 20-year-old slammed his first first-class hundred only in his second game and pummelled the Uttarakhand attack to submission. Mumbai ended the day at 261/3.
Uttarakhand began on their overnight score of 39/2 and none of their batters showed any resistance. Experienced pacer Dhawal Kulkarni got the wicket of his first ball, as he trapped overnight batter Kunal Chandela (8) in front of the wickets.
Then Mulani (5/39) spun a web around the opposition and his first victim was opener Kamal Singh (40), who was caught by Tushar Deshpande. Singh was the top-scorer for the hilly state in the first innings.
Uttarakhand who were teetering at 71/4 never recovered and lost their last six-wickets for just 43 runs with 25-year-old Mulani being the wrecker-in-chief.
Mulani’s other victims were – Swapnil Singh (9), Dikshanshu Negi (12), Shivam Khurana (7) and Agrim Tiwari (0) as the batters did not bother the scorers.
Pacers Dhawal Kulkarni (1/18), Tushar Deshpande (1/25), Mohit Awasthi (2/22) and off-spinner Tanush Kotian (1/6) ably supported Mulani as the domestic giants dished out an impressive show. This was Mulani’s fifth five-wicket haul this season alone.
Mumbai in their second essay were off to an aggressive start, thanks to Jaiswal and skipper Prithvi Shaw, who made 72 in just 80 balls. The duo took the opposition attack to task as it forged a 115-run stand for the first wicket.
Shaw hammered nine boundaries and two sixes. After Shaw fell, left-handed batter Jaiswal, who struck 10 boundaries and two maximums, found an able ally in experienced Aditya Tare, (57) who too hit a half century.
The duo added 94-runs for the second wicket as Mumbai continued its run-feast.
When stumps were drawn, young batters Armaan Jaffer (17 not out) and Suved Parkar (6 not out) were holding fort.
Just like the first-essay, Uttarakhand bowlers had forgettable outing in the second innings too.
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