Mumbai won their semi-final against Tamil Nadu by an innings and 70 runs at the BKC ground in Mumbai, reaching the final for a record 48th time in the history of Ranji Trophy.
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Mumbai started day three with their last pair batting at the crease. In the quarter-final, both their Nos.10 and 11 had hit hundreds. This time, they added 88 runs for the last wicket, taking Mumbai to 378, a score which looked like a distant dream after they had been shot down to 106-7 courtesy of Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore’s five-for on day two.
Tamil Nadu had to overcome a huge deficit of 232 runs to get Mumbai to bat again. They got off to a terrible start in their second innings as Shardul Thakur, who had taken the game away from them with the bat the previous day, put on a brilliant display of swing bowling to remove both openers.
Washington Sundar, promoted to No.3, failed to make an impact as well as the visitors slipped to 10-3. Baba Indrajith then stitched a 73-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Pradosh Ranjan Paul before the latter was stumped off Tanush Kotian.
The Tamil Nadu middle order stitched up a couple of more decent partnerships before a collapse was set off in the 47th over of the innings by Kotian. Sai Kishore was bowled by the off-spinner, who had finished unbeaten on 89 earlier in the day eyeing a second consecutive ton, at the score of 153.
𝐌𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐢 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥! 👏
A superb performance from the @ajinkyarahane88-led side as they beat Tamil Nadu by an innings and 70 runs in Semi Final 2 of the @IDFCFIRSTBank #RanjiTrophy 🙌#MUMvTN | #SF2
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/9tosMLk9TT pic.twitter.com/bOikVOmBn1
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 4, 2024
The next four wickets fell inside five overs at the cost of just nine runs as Tamil Nadu bundled for 162. Indrajith was the top-scorer with 70 while Shams Mulani finished with best figures in the innings, 4-53.
Thakur was named Player of the Match for his game-changing contribution with the bat in the first innings (109 off 105 balls batting at No.9), coupled with his four wickets for 64 runs across the two innings with the ball.
With this victory, Mumbai became the first team to reach the final of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy. This marks the 48th time they have done so, with Delhi and Bengal’s 15 final appearances being the next best.
Mumbai’s conversion rate in the Ranji Trophy final has also been phenomenal, as they have lost only six of the 47 finals they have played, winning a record 41 titles.
The last time they reached the Ranji Trophy final was two seasons back, when they lost against Madhya Pradesh, who are fighting it out in the other semi-final against Vidarbha at this point, Mumbai last won the Ranji Trophy in 2015/16.
