Ranji Trophy Highlights, Day 3 Semifinal 2024: Mumbai beats Tamil Nadu; Rathod, Wadkar put Vidarbha ahead of MP by 261 runs

Yash Rathod closes out the day’s play with a flurry of boundaries, with a crunching cover drive the pick of the lot. 

Vidarbha ends the day at 343/6. It now leads MP by a handsome 261 runs. 

Short from Avesh and Yash Rathod is ready for it. Pulls it off the back foot for a four. 

Full and wide from Anubhav Agarwal from the other end. Akshay Wadkar goes after it, but can only manage and outside edge. Superb diving catch by Gawli at second slip. 

Akshay Wadkar c Gawli b Agarwal 77 (139b 8x4 0x6)

Saransh returns and Wadkar takes him on with a cut shot. Another four and that brings up the 300 for Vidarbha. 

Avesh Khan back into the attack for MP. Rathod and Wadkar tuck in a few easy singles to keep it moving. 

Kumar Kartikeya continues. Short from him and Wadkar slices it away for a single. Vidarbha’s lead touches 200. 

Sagar misses his length and Wadkar slams it away for a four to the square leg fence. Welcome boundary for Vidarbha. Full now from Sagar and driven away for a four by Wadkar. 

Maiden over from Sagar Solanki as Yash Rathod plays it safe. Vidarbha pair will look to get their team to end of day’s play without any further damages. 

Kumar Karthikeya with the ball for Madhya Pradesh. Wadkar nudges one to the off side to take a single and gets to his fifty. The local crowd ring in the applause for the right-handed batter. 

Vidarbha’s lead inching close to the 200-run mark. Sagar Solanki back with the ball for MP. Three singles from the over. Not much trouble for both the batters. 

Shams Mulani closes off the game by nabbing Sandeep Warrier. Easy catch for Shreyas Iyer. Mumbai wins by an innings and 70 runs

Akshay Wadkar pushes a Kumar Kartikeya delivery to the deep to add a couple of runs and bring up the 100-run partnership. These two have revived Vidarbha’s hopes in this Ranji semifinal. 

Ripper from the left-arm spinner. Pitches one way outside the off stump and Ajith Ram leaves it only for the ball to spin in sharply to crash into the stumps. 

Ajith Ram b Mulani 4 (7b 1x4 0x6)

Shams Mulani drags M Muhammed out with a looped one. Edge and Rahane plucks out a neat catch. The end seems nearer for Tamil Nadu. 

Mohammed Mohammed c Rahane b Mulani 0 (6b 0x4 0x6)

Abhishek Saini - Fifty for Yash Rathod with a glance down to fine leg off Anubhav Agarwal. While he only gave shades of his langour in the first innings, he stamped it this time around.

Vidarbha 243/5 vs Madhya Pradesh 

Tamil Nadu 153/6 vs Mumbai

Kotian fires one in and skids it past Sai Kishore’s defence. BOWLED!!

Sai Kishore b Kotian 21 (20b 2x4 1x6)

Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore has come out with an attacking mindset. He gets off the mark with a four to the leg side and then goes over the infield. Only two runs there though. A single by Vijay Shankar off Musheer Khan brings Mumbai’s lead down to 100. 

Rahane turns to Musheer Khan to dislodge the well-settled Indrajith. But the TN batter takes on the part-time spinner with a four. Mohit Avasthi from the other end. Good length from the pacer and Indrajith errs by going after it. Edged and gobbled up by Tamore. 

Baba Indrajith c †Tamore b Avasthi 70 (105b 9x4 0x6)

Short from Sagar Solanki and Akshay Wadkar puts it away for an easy four off the back foot to the leg side. A single later in the next over brings up the fifty-run partnership between Wadkar and Rathod. 

Cracking shot from Yash Rathod against Khejroliya. FOUR!! Rathod and Akshay Wadkar are playing with confidence, unafraid of taking on the MP bowlers. Vidarbha’s lead now stands at 114. 

Shardul Thakur is back into the attack. He and Shams Mulani are bowling well in tandem, not letting Indrajith and new-batter Vijay Shankar to break away. Just two runs from the last three overs. 

Kotian takes Pradosh Ranjan by surprise with one that bounced sharply. Outside edge and Tamore takes a good catch behind the stumps. 

Pradosh Ranjan Paul c †Tamore b Kotian 25 (54b 2x4 0x6)

Beauty from Khejroliya. He goes around the wicket and rifles one past Karun Nair’s downward swinging blade to disturb the stumps. MP on the rise!

Karun Nair b Khejroliya 38 (43b 5x4 0x6)

Avesh Khan back into the attack for MP. Meanwhile, Karun Nair has taken up the mantle of Vidarbha’s batting. He has Yash Rathod alongside him now. Width from Avesh and Karun guides it through the gully region for a four. 

Pradosh and Indrajith have eased into the battle. They are now ticking the scoreboard forward with some calculated shot making. Both Shams Mulani and Tushar Deshpande concede boundaries against the Tamil Nadu batters. 

First ball after Lunch and Mokhade falls. He misread Kumar Kartikeya’s stock ball and is trapped in front. Big blow for Vidarbha. 

Aman Mokhade lbw b Kartikeya 59 (100b 7x4 0x6)

Tamil Nadu 57/3 vs Mumbai

Vidarbha 137/3 vs Madhya Pradesh

Baba Indrajith is up and running. Controlled batting from the right-hander. Wide from Deshpande and Indrajith manages to tap it down and past slips and it runs away for a four and that takes TN past 50. 

Aman Mokhade gets to his fifty -- his first in FC cricket -- with a single against Anubhav Agarwal. This has been a classy knock from the right-handed batter and he will look to go on. 

Baba Indrajith and Pradosh Ranjan Paul steady the ship for Tamil Nadu. On the pads from Deshpande and Indrajith flicks it away to deep square. Three runs added there. Pradosh too gets into the act with a well-timed cut shot. FOUR!!

Kumar Kartikeya is rewarded for his consistency as he draws an edge out of Shorey and Mantri takes a smart catch down the leg side. 

Dhruv Shorey c †Mantri b Kartikeya 40 (65b 6x4 0x6)

It takes 20 overs for Vidarbha to wipe out the 69-run deficit on the third day. Shorey and Mokhade well in control to carry this momentum on. VID 85/2, leads by 3 runs.

Finally, Washington Sundar breaks free. Full and straight from Avasthi and the left-handed batter times the straight drive to perfection. FOUR!!!

But Avasthi has the last laugh. He brings the line back outside the stumps and Washington goes after it. Edge and another catch for Tamore. 

Washington Sundar c †Tamore b Avasthi 4 (19b 1x4 0x6)

Kumar Kartikeya and Kulwant Khejroliya introduced as MP looks to shake things up against a well-set Vidarbha pair. Couple of tidy over from the pair as the runs dry up just a bit for the batting side. 

The runs are not just coming in for Tamil Nadu. Mohit Avasthi with a maiden over. 

Shardul Thakur keeps the pressure on and Sai Sudarshan cracks. Outside the off stump and Sudarshan pushes at it. But the ball swerves in takes a bit off the left-handed batter’s inside edge. Tamore completes the catch. 

Sai Sudharsan c †Tamore b Thakur 5 (15b 1x4 0x6)

Shardul Thakur with one that faded away from Jagadeesan. Played across the line and strikes him in front. Jagadeesan takes a review, only to be shown all three red. 

Narayan Jagadeesan lbw b Thakur 0 (7b 0x4 0x6)

DROPPED!!! Shardul Thakur with the first over. First ball of the TN innings and Sai Sudarshan hits it straight at Shreyas Iyer at short mid wicket. But somehow, the ball pops out of his hands. What a chance!!

Second over of the innings for Venkatesh Iyer. He starts from over the wicket to Mokhade. Full and driven for a single by the right-handed batter. Wide and short from Venkatesh and Shorey puts it away for a four with ease. 

Abhishek Saini - Driven by Dhruv Shorey, for the first time this match, Vidarbha has looked for going at a fair clip, possibly to erase the deficit as soon as possible. 30 runs from the first 7 overs in the day and the loss of night watchman Wakhare would not hurt much either. VID 43/2, 39 behind MP.

Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore brings himself on. Two singles from the over. 

Spin from the other end. Washington with the ball. Full from the offie. Koitan goes for a sweep and misses it. Strikes him on the front pad. TN burns its last review on it. But Washington is not to be denied. He draws a mishit from Deshpande and Sai Sudarshan takes a brilliant diving catch at short third. 

Tushar Deshpande c Sai Sudharsan b Washington Sundar 26 (60b 3x4 0x6)

On the pads from Anubhav and Mokhade gets his first four of the innings with an easy glance to the square leg fence. Mokhade now shuffles to his off stump and pokes at one. Edge and runs away for a four. MP’s lead now under 50. 

Kuldeep Sen goes around the wicket against Tushar Deshpande, who defends everything thrown at him with a dead-straight bat. 

Width from Warrier from the other end and Kotian slashes at it. FOUR!! The runs keep coming for Mumbai. 

Full from Anubhav and Dhruv Shorey crunches it back with a straight drive. FOUR!! And it is a no ball from the right-arm pacer. Anubhav responds by beating Dhruv’s outside edge. 

Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande start off with a couple of boundaries. Kuldeep Sen and Sandeep Warrier are not posing much difficulties for the the Mumbai pair. 

Dhruv Shorey cracks a four off Avesh Khan to kickstart the day for Vidarbha. 

Anubhav Agarwal from the other end and he produces a gem. Pitches one on the middle-stump line and swings it away. Akshay Wakhare edges it and it is an easy catch for Gawli at first slip. 

Akshay Wakhare c Gawli b Agarwal 1 (13b 0x4 0x6)

Sandeep Warrier with the first over of the day for Tamil Nadu. Couple of short balls in the over. Just two singles from the over. 

At a time when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants to ensure the players do not skip domestic cricket, especially the Ranji Trophy, India all-rounder Shardul Thakur has called for better scheduling and gaps between games for the well-being of the players.

“It’s difficult because we are playing First-Class matches with three-day gaps,” said Thakur to a question about how he is managing workloads. 

“When I started playing Ranji Trophy, the first three games used to have a three-day break and then four days. The knockouts had a five-day break. Now, we have seen all matches played with a three-day gap. So, it is extremely tough for domestic players to expect them to play 10 games in a row with a three-day gap if a team reaches the final.”

Both the semifinal matches can be streamed live on the Jio Cinema app/website. There will be no live telecast of the Ranji Trophy 2024 matches on any TV channel.

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Ranji Trophy 2023-24 semifinals: Shardul Thakur’s ton overshadows Sai Kishore’s brilliance, puts Mumbai in command on Day 2

A topsy-turvy day at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground ended with Mumbai’s lower-order taking the game away from the opposition in no time against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy semifinal.