Ranji Trophy: Mumbai registers maiden outright win of the season

Odisha tried its best to chase a mammoth target of 413 on the last day, but fell short by 120 wins.

Mumbai players celebrate their victory over Odisha in Bhubanswar on Saturday.

The Odisha lower order did show some spine but eventually ran out of steam as Mumbai registered its maiden outright win of the season in a Ranji Trophy Group C affair, which concluded at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology on Saturday.

Full Scorecard

The five Mumbai bowlers were made to work hard on the last day by the Odisha batsmen, who started the day at 93 for four in quest of a target of 413.

By the time Basant Mohanty skied one from Shardul Thakur into Akash Parkar's palms at mid-on five minutes before the scheduled tea interval, Odisha had surged to 292, its third-highest total in the fourth innings of a Ranji match.

MATCH REPORT:  Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3

Captain Govinda Poddar and debutant Shantanu Mishra started on a positive note, with the latter steering Dhawal Kulkarni through third-man in the third over for the first boundary of the day. While Kulkarni bowled a long spell up front, Thakur was replaced after an early burst with Parkar and the move almost paid off. In his third over, Parkar drew Mishra forward to get him to nick one but Suryakumar Yadav couldn't hold on to the chance at second slip.

BLOG: Ranji Trophy - Round IV, Day 4

Then on, while Poddar drove with aplomb, Mishra cut and pulled the pacers without any trouble. He welcomed left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil with a paddled sweep. Poddar too danced down the wicket to hit him through the on-side for a four. Another cover drive off Parkar took Poddar into the 80s.

Shardul Thakur fined for showing dissent Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur has been fined 40 per cent of his match-fee for his outburst against umpire K. Srinivasan towards the end of the day. Umpires Srinivasan and K. N. Ananathapadmanabhan charged him for showing dissent at an umpire's decision, using an abusive or insulting or derogatory gesture, and bringing the game into disrepute. Since the player accepted the charge, match referee Nitin Goel took the punitive action for the Level 1 offence. An appeal for lbw against Odisha's Saurabh Rawat was turned down by Srinivasan off Thakur's bowling. The livid fast bowler whisked his cap away from the umpire after the end of his over. Ajinkya Rahane and Aditya Tare then tried to calm the umpire down. However, at the start of Thakur's next over, Srinivasan refused to take Thakur's cap. Suryakumar Yadav stuffed it in his jersey.

However, Abhishek Nayar justified his billing as the partnership breaker by forcing Poddar to chase one outside the off stump only to play it back on to the stumps.

Even after the duo's 90-run partnership had been broken, rather than playing for a draw, Mishra continued to play freely. But on the brink of lunch, he nicked Parkar and the ball ballooned off Aditya Tare's shoes to Yadav at second slip.

At 196 for six, Samantray required the tail to dig deep with him if Odisha had to earn a point from the game. With the ball getting softer, 'keeper Saurabh Yadav teamed up with Samantray under the baking sun for over an hour. However, Nayar got one to move back in sharply to break Samantray's defence just before the new ball was due to sound off the nearing of the inevitable.

Suryakant Pradhan tonked the ball outside the ground thrice to give something to cheer for the weekend crowd, but Kulkarni and Thakur were able to run through the tail.