Thank the lord

Pacer Shardul Thakur’s six-fer rattles Haryana as Mumbai turn the tide with 14-run first innings lead; unbeaten 88 by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Kumar’s 70 guide defending champions to 278-4 on Day Three

In just 75 minutes into Monday’s play, Shardul Thakur (nicknamed Lord Shardul) firmly installed Mumbai in the driver’s seat of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Haryana, giving it a telling twist at the Eden Gardens.

Huge setback for Haryana

Grabbing Haryana’s remaining five wickets, the medium-pacer took the defending champions to what had seemed an unlikely first-innings lead. It may be as slender as 14 runs, but it is a huge setback for Haryana, who have now slipped dramatically from their position of strength.

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Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane

The onus of forcing an outright win has switched sides and is suddenly upon Ankit Kumar & Co. That they have to bat last on a wearing wicket, and against men who know a thing or two about shutting the door on opponents, isn’t an encouraging thought.

By stumps on Day Three, Mumbai, having dismissed their opponents for 301, were 278-4 in the second innings, thus opening up an ominous lead of 292. It would have been worse for Haryana had Suryakumar Yadav not thrown his wicket away after all but sucking out the opponents’ hope with a 129-run partnership for the fourth wicket with skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Suryakumar made 70 off 86, with eight fours and two sixes. Rahane is unbeaten on 88. The lead may be lending Mumbai an aura of invincibility, but it was all nicely set up by Shardul in the morning.

New ball does the trick

He bounced one to have Rohit Sharma top-edging a hook to Mohit Avasthi at deep fine-leg in the very first over of the day. Then, when the second new ball became available after eight overs into the day, he came back from the far end to extract both swing and disconcerting bounce. Jayant Yadav and Anuj Thakral chased deliveries outside off to fall to their doom before Anshul Kamboj and Ajit Chahal, the No. 10 and 11, were trapped in front.

When Mumbai came out to bat a second time, Haryana failed to find any help from the wicket. Even Kamboj, such a terror in the first innings, lacked the ‘bite’ and conceded a couple of boundaries in his first over to get Mumbai going.

Amidst drooping shoulders, Haryana’s fielding too lost sharpness and it didn’t help that veteran Jayant Yadav dropped a dolly at mid-off in the fourth over.
The next two days will reveal if they still have some fight left in them.

Brief scores
Mumbai 315 & 278-4 (A Rahane 88*, S Yadav 70, S Lad 43, A Mhatre 31, S Dube 30*; A Thakral 2-61) v Haryana 301 (A Kumar 136; S Thakur 6-58, T Kotian 2-57, S Mulani 2-68)

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