Akshay Akshay Wadkar: Musheer Khan became the youngest batter to score a hundred in the Ranji Trophy final, breaking the 29-year-old record held by Sachin Tendulkar and shared vital partnerships with skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer as Mumbai set Vidarbha a mammoth target of 538 to win the match.After being shot out for 224 in their first innings, Mumbai had gained a 119-run lead by dismissing Vidarbha for 105. They had extended the lead to 260 runs by the end of play on the second day at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
The third day belonged to the 19-year-old Musheer, who went on to complete his maiden Ranji Trophy century at the age of 19 years and 14 days to become the youngest player to score a century set 29 years ago, Ajinkya Rahane (73) and Iyer (95) while Shams Mulani contributed an unbeaten 50 as Mumbai scored 418 in their second innings, setting Vidarbha a mountain to climb in the fourth innings.
At stumps on Day 3, Vidarbha were 10 for no loss in two hours and need 528 more runs in the next two days to win their third title in the premier domestic first-class competition. Mumbai are the most successful team in the competition having won the title on 41 occasions. Their last title came in the 2015-16 season.
Resuming the day on 141/2 with Musheer on 51 and Rahane on 58 overnight, Mumbai continued their mission of batting Vidarbha out of the match. Musheer and Rahane raised 130 runs for the third wicket partnership while the 19-year-old brother of Test batter Sarfaraz Khan, shared a 168-run partnership with Iyer for the fourth wicket, as Mumbai went from strength to strength.
Skipper Rahane could add only 15 runs to his overnight score before getting out as left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey extracted turn and bounce with a length ball on the off-stump, which kissed the shoulder of Mumbai skipper’s bat into the gloves of the keeper and his opposite number Akshay Akshay Wadkar. Rahane, hoping to get back into the Test squad after a successful season, thus ended the Ranji Trophy edition without scoring a single century. His 73 included five boundaries and one six.
Musheer continued to hold one end up and he and Iyer completed the half-century of their fourth-wicket partnership in 87 balls. Iyer, who was left out of the Central Contracts by BCCI for missing Mumbai’s previous Ranji Trophy clash, was quite aggressive as he completed his half-century in 62 balls, hitting five boundaries and two sixes as Mumbai took lunch at 262/3. Musheer and Iyer crossed the 100-run mark in their partnership off 157 balls with Iyer hitting 74 of those runs. Musheer, eventually, completed his century after Vidarbha had taken the second new ball to no avail, reaching the mark off 255 balls, hitting six fours.
Iyer was unlucky to miss his century by five runs as he went for a big shot off a delivery pitched outside off and skied it to Aman Mokhade at long-off on the bowling of Aditya Thakare. Mumbai’s score read 332/4 and though Mumbai lost Hardik Tamore and Musheer Khan, trapped LBW by Dubey for 136, in quick succession, Shams Mulani struck an unbeaten 50 off 85 balls, hitting six boundaries, in the process as Mumbai went on to set Vidarbha a massive target to chase.
Dubey was the most successful bowler for Vidarbha, claiming 5-144 in 45 overs while Yash Thakur bagged 3-79 in 22.2 overs.
Mumbai, playing in their 48th final, will now look to bowl out Vidarbha as early as possible to score a big win and claim their 42nd Ranji Trophy title.
Brief scores:
Mumbai 224 & 418 all out in 130.2 overs (Musheer Khan 136, Ajinkya Rahane 73, Shreyas Iyer 95, Shams Mulani 50 not out; Harsh Dubey 5-144, Yash Thakur 3-79) lead Vidarbha 105 & 10 for no loss in 2 overs (Atharva Taide 3 not out, Dhruv Shorey 7 not out) by 528 runs.
