Ranji Trophy final: Shardul Thakur is Mumbai’s saviour again as he turns tables against Vidarbha with bat and ball | Cricket News

Shardul Thakur slashed so violently that he resembled a sabre fencer thrusting his sword more than a ‘tailender’ bailing his team out in a Ranji Trophy final.It was a length ball outside off, the kind that most other batsmen would have shouldered arms to. Not Shardul, who began his innings dancing down the track and hitting a boundary. This wasn’t as clean a hit as his first. Playing away from his body, the ball hit the edge and flew just over Dhruv Shorey at gully.
Thakur stepped back, and took a deep breath.
Identical delivery two balls later, identical response from Shardul – driving the ball without much footwork – and an identical outcome: the ball again catching the edge and zooming past Shorey, this time he gets closer than on the earlier occasion.
Another step back Shardul, another deep breath.
The very next ball, he tries to hit it through midwicket but gets a leading edge. The ball floats in the air, Harsh Dubey at mid-on runs backwards and lunges desperately to take a one-handed diving catch. But the ball eludes him.
Four balls. Three lives.
“One was a really good ball. The next two balls, it was my make, error of judgment,” Shardul said later. “They say luck favours the brave. Luck went my way at that point of time.”
The pluck-master ensured it didn’t go to waste. In the 40s when he survived the three attempts, Shardul went on to score nearly one-third of Mumbai’s runs as his knock of 75 (69b, 8×4, 3×6) saved his team the embarrassment of getting bowled out for a paltry score. Mumbai were eventually dismissed for 224 and the time the first day ended, it looked like a par score as Vidarba were reeling at 31/3.
Shardul, who else, provided the first breakthrough but, as was the case in the semifinals where he scored his maiden first-class century, it was his contribution with the bat that’s of greater significance.
It’s a joke how good Mumbai’s tail, marshalled Shardul, has been this season. A measure of it is the fact that when Mohit Avasthi was ruled out at the last minute – due to a niggle, thus giving the sparsely-used Dhaval Kulkarni a chance to play his farewell match for Mumbai – the talk centred more around whether it’ll affect the balance of the lower order rather than if it’d rob captain Ajinkya Rahane of a handy bowling option.
Mumbai: Mumbai’s Dhawal Kulkarni with teammates celebrates the wicket of Vidharbha batter Aman Mokhade during the Ranji trophy final match between Mumbai and Vidarbha, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (PTI Photo/Shashank Parade)
It was also a commentary on the form of Mumbai’s batsmen and when their middle order collapsed once again, those concerns seemed genuine.
Green mirage
Like the rest of Mumbai, the Wankhede has been a construction site for what feels like ages. Stands covered, almost entirely, in dust and, partly, with unsightly brown or green cloth.
One area was left untouched – the 22 yards in the middle that had enough green cover to command the attention of environmentals. It looked for a while that the lively dense grass deceived Vidarbha, until a frantic 34-minute period rocked Mumbai. During those crazy few minutes, the ball swung and spun and the batsmen edged and missed the line as Mumbai lost their entire top order.
While Mumbai’s change of personnel seemed steeped in sentiment, Vidarbha’s tweak was more strategic, replacing offie Akshay Wakhare with left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey given the right-hander-heavy Mumbai batting.

The experience of Dhawal Kulkarni provides Mumbai a wicket in the evening session!
Vidarbha lose the crucial wicket of Karun Nair.
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/L6A9dXYmZA#RanjiTrophy | #MUMvVID | #Final | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/VNk7HAkgSU
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 10, 2024
Like a workhorse, Dubey held one end up and kept a tight leash on the Mumbai batsmen, who were off to a brisk start with Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani scoring at an ODI pace. Dubey dismissed Shaw, who went for a needless slog-sweep after playing well for his 46, before delivering a double blow getting rid of Musheer Khan and Rahane.
From the other end, the pacers – Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Aditya Thakare – were doing just enough to extract all they could from a surface that had something in it for them. They kept probing the fourth-stump channel and frequently beat the edge, especially in the first hour.
Their disciplined bowling bore rewards as Mumbai lost their first four wickets just before lunch while another two were gone within five minutes of each other soon after the match restarted.
Shardul walked in at that critical stage when Mumbai were six down and completely on the back foot. They hadn’t scored a boundary for 108 balls. It was a situation not too dissimilar from the semifinal against Tamil Nadu. And just like he systematically dismantled the TN bowling attack, it was Shardul’s uncluttered, counter-attacking innings that seized the momentum.
A minor tweak, he said, has been key to his batting revival. Recently, after a match at the BKC ground, Shardul met former first-class cricketer Vilas Godbole. “He told me to keep my knees flexed and hit the ball,” Shardul said. “That’s the fine-tuning I did in the last two games.”
Shardul makes it sound easy. At the crease, he made it look easy as well as he plundered the Vidarbha bowlers.

He eventually ran out of lives while trying to go big in an attempt to shield Kulkarni, something he might not have done with Avasthi at the other end. But the time the teams walked back to the pavilion at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Shardul had triggered a mini-collapse, ably supported Kulkarni, that left Mumbai in control of the final.
Brief scores: Mumbai 224 all out (Shardul Thakur 75, Prithvi Shaw 46; Yash Thakur 3/54, Harsh Dubey 3/62; Umesh Yadav 2/43) vs Vidarbha 31/3 (Atharva Taide 21*; Dhawal Kulkarni 2/9)