Shardul laments Mumbai’s timed century of power

The timing of Shardul Thakur’s first-class century could not have been more perfect.

At the BKC complex in Mumbai on Sunday, the 32-year-old took the field at No. 9 and struck a brilliant 109 off 105 balls to help Mumbai take a commanding 207-run lead against Tamil Nadu on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinals.
After 100 overs, Mumbai was 353 for 9, and stumps were drawn.

In addition to Thakur, Tanush Kotian, who was still undefeated at 74, and Musheer Khan’s 55 both aided Mumbai’s cause and tormented the visitors.

Tamil Nadu had come into the second morning hoping to improve on their dismal batting performance on the first day. And by lunch, they had reduced the home side to 125/7, and they did seem promising. Sandeep Warrier’s brute might defeated Shreyas Iyer, while R Sai Kishore’s cunning defeated Ajinkya Rahane.

But TN’s preparations were ruined by Thakur’s counterattacking innings. Thakur shown that he could be relied upon as an all-around bowler in the red-ball format, in addition to displaying flashes of his batting ability in the white-ball style. He was taking on seamers and spinners with a positive mindset and was finding the gaps on the field with ease. With much pleasure, he drove, pulled, and swept, and his shot selection was impeccable.

“Shardul made a commendable attempt. He played with aggression and positivity. An occasional half-chances went this way and that. But after the day’s play, Tamil Nadu captain Sai Kishore observed, “He was destined to score and thus, managed to do so.”

In addition to applying more pressure to the TN bowlers, Thakur formed two crucial alliances that might influence the outcome of the game.

In order to put Mumbai ahead, Thakur first partnered with Hardik Tamore (35) to build a critical 105-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Later, he and Kotian added another 79 runs for the ninth wicket.

“The pitch was ready to bat by the time Thakur arrived, so they could score runs. It was sometimes difficult to control them since the ball came off the bat nicely, according to Sai Kishore.

Sai Kishore used every tactic known to man to prevent Mumbai. In an attempt to slow the run flow, he and S Ajith Ram both bowled beyond the leg stump line, but with little success.

After sweeping Ajith Ram for a boundary, Shardul came out to carry the bowler over the ropes when facing the same bowler. To the pleasure of those watching him from the stands, Sai Kishore reverse-sweeped the TN captain because he was much faster down the leg stump.

He was so dominant that at the conclusion of the day’s play, a bowler of Washington Sundar’s caliber was only allowed two overs and brought again. He could monitor the run flow when he got to bowl.
The idea was to have a spinner at one end and a pacer at the other, as you can see. Thus, Sai Kishore said, “that’s why Washy was brought later.”
Even though Sai Kishore, who finished with statistics of 6/97, bowled with great intensity and went through Mumbai’s middle order, he was unable to get enough help from the other end, particularly in the last session of play.

Kotian and Deshpande (17 n.o), who had come into the match having put up a 232-run stand for the tenth wicket in their last encounter, continued where they had left off to put on a 63-run unbeaten partnership for the tenth wicket on the day. On Monday, it’s our responsibility to immediately grab the last wicket. Sai Kishore said, “I hope we play well (bat to potential) for the majority of the next two days and then take it from there.”

On Day 3, Tamil Nadu will be looking to swing things in their favor.

Quick scores

At Mumbai: Chennai 146 against Mumbai 353/9 in 100 overs (Kotian 74 batting, Thakur 109, Musheer 55; Sai Kishore 6/97). In Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh defeated Vidarbha 170 and 13/1 in 4 overs, while Umesh 3/40 and Y Thakur 3/51 scored 252 for Madhya Pradesh.