Shardul Thakur, who is out of the India squads as of now, picked up his maiden first-class hat-trick against Meghalaya on a day where several India discards fared well in the 2024/25 Ranji Trophy.
Meghalaya were shot out for 86 after they fell to 2-6, the second-worst start in the history of first-class cricket. Thakur demolished the top-order with the new ball, picking up three wickets off successive balls.
Shardul shines yet again, Rahane scores fifty
Shardul, who scored a hundred in Mumbai’s previous game against Jammu and Kashmir, continued his fine form in the tournament, picking up his first-ever hat-trick in the format. He ended with 4-43 in 11 overs, sending back four of the top six batters.
Mumbai, who are without Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube for the clash due to international commitments, are being led by Ajinkya Rahane, who brought up his first half-century of the edition. Rahane had scored 211 runs in 10 innings before the clash with a high score of 48*.
Rahane has not played for India since India’s Test against West Indies in 2023, where he had made 8 in the only innings he batted.
How did other India players fare in the round?
The last round of the Ranji Trophy made big news due to Virat Kohli’s participation for Delhi against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He did not get to bat on day one, but Navdeep Saini, his state mate, who was recently picked as a net bowler for the Australia tour, sent down 18 overs, and picked up three wickets.
Alongside Kohli, KL Rahul was also making a comeback to the Ranji scene after five years in Bengaluru. Rahul did not have the best outing, scoring 26 in 37 balls with four boundaries. Devdutt Padikkal, another current India player, who was also turning out for Rahul’s side Karnataka, made 43.
Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal headlined the performance of India discards on Thursday. Mayank scored 91 while opening before he fell to Haryana’s Anuj Hira Thakral at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who had become Saurashtra’s highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy last week, was batting on 95 overnight and will be aiming for his 67th first-class hundred on Friday. Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar, who scored an unbeaten 150 in the last game, was dismissed for 17.
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