There were no demons in the pitch but Mumbai’s pace department, led by Shardul Thakur, bowled short-pitched deliveries as Assam batters crumbled under pressure in a crucial Ranji Trophy Elite Group B fixture on Thursday.
After being bundled out for 370 in the first innings and following-on, Assam was reeling at 36 for five at the end of the third day’s play as Thakur claimed three wickets in the second essay - five in total. Stand-in captain Gokul Sharma remained unbeaten on 7, while Swarupam Purkayastha was on 12.
As 14 wickets fell on the day, Assam still needed 281 on the final day to avoid an innings defeat; however, with Thakur and Mohit Avasthi breathing fire, it would need a miracle for the home team to deny Mumbai an outright win.
The Assam middle-order showed intent earlier in the day, and expectations were high when they walked out to bat again in the second innings, but it was complete mayhem.
Avasthi struck on the first delivery as Subham Mandal was caught at first slip by Armaan Jaffer, for a duck. Building on the pressure, Thakur cleaned up Rishav Das in the next over and followed it up with two quick wickets of Riyan Parag and Abhishek Thakuri after a while.
Riyan, one of the promising talents from the State, started with a boundary but failed to capitalise before offering a difficult catch to Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane at mid-on.
As a dejected Riyan walked back to the pavilion, Mumbai tightened the noose with a caught behind of Thakuri and in the penultimate delivery of the fifth over, Avasthi rattled Rahul Hazarika’s stumps.
In pursuit of Mumbai’s mammoth 687 for four, Assam had a mountain to climb, but by Thakur’s own admission, they ‘did not expect’ the home side to lose five wickets in the second innings on a pitch that was ‘difficult for the bowlers’.
If Thakur tormented the Assam batters, Shams Mulani claimed four wickets to put the side on the mat in the first innings.
Starting the day at 129 for one, Hazarika (79) and Rishav (75) added 34 runs to the overnight score before Thakur struck. A settled Hazarika nicked and was caught behind by Prasad Pawar.
The onus was on Riyan, who started off aggressively - hitting two sixes off Mulani - before offering a catch to Shaw at slips off Thakur.
And thereafter, Assam lost wickets at regular intervals with the middle-order fumbling. Rishav did make an attempt to accelerate the strike before being cleaned up by Tanush Kotian.
Adding to its woes, Assam lost its sixth wicket on the last ball before Lunch as Purkayastha 9 (13) departed after being caught by Thakur at short mid-off off an Avasthi delivery.
However, post Lunch, stand-in captain Gokul forged an 80-run stand with Thakuri, before Mulani cleaned him up shortly after the batter reached 51 off 86. Gokul added a flurry of boundaries en route to his 153-ball 73 before offering a catch to Prithvi Shaw off Tanush Kotian.
At that point, Gokul wouldn’t have imagined that the team would be staring at a defeat by the end of the day.
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