Ranji Trophy semifinals: ‘Khadoos’ Mumbai deliver as a unit, Tamil Nadu left to rue wrong decisions from the word go | Cricket News

Sulakshan Kulkarni, Tamil Nadu coach who boasted he had Mumbai cricket ‘on his fingertips’, knew his team’s fate was sealed the moment his captain decided to bat on a damp, green wicket at the toss on Day 1.
It was the first in a series of blunders the veteran domestic coach led that saw his team succumb to an innings-and-70-run defeat. Kulkarni’s former team, Mumbai, reached their 48th Ranji Trophy final where they will play either Vidarbha or Madhya Pradesh starting Sunday.
Tamil Nadu’s sorry semifinal ended the same way it started: Their batsmen staring at the pitch as if it had demons that danced only when they were in the middle, a look of disbelief plastered on their faces and reluctant walks back to the dugout.

Fantastic Start 👌
Shardul Thakur dismisses N Jagadeesan and Sai Sudharsan early to give Mumbai the perfect start in the 2nd innings. 🙌@imShard | @IDFCFIRSTBank | #RanjiTrophy | #MUMvTN | #SF2
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/9tosMLk9TT pic.twitter.com/IzNR1irHZt
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 4, 2024
When they look back, one cold stat will bare it all: Over two innings, Tamil Nadu managed 308 runs, only 36 more than Mumbai’s last three batsmen in the first innings. Amusing, because Sai Kishore said after the second day that he trusted his batsmen to score 300-400 runs. Unless he meant a combined tally of both innings, Sai Kishore grossly overestimated his teammates in these conditions.
Kulkarni said he’d provided his captain with all the inputs from his years of experience of playing and working in Mumbai. “But I can only lead a horse to water, can’t make it drink,” Kulkarni said. “I even explained to them Mumbai’s mindset.”
The other day, after his hundred, Thakur fell back on the age-old cliche to describe Mumbai’s attitude. “Khadoos,” he said. There are many connotations to this overused adjective. Aggression, in-your-face, arrogance… but Thakur was alluding to grit, especially of their lower order that virtually took the game away from Tamil Nadu with another stellar batting performance.
Thakur personified Mumbai’s grittiness. Never more so than during this match.
After the win, the ‘khadoos’ Mumbaikar was more self-deprecating. “I started my journey as a fat kid,” Thakur joked. Eleven years have passed since and Thakur, who quickly added he’s a lot leaner now, began Tamil Nadu’s demolition with a fabulous counterattacking ton, his first in this format, on Sunday. He returned Monday morning to land a one-two punch, with two early wickets, that put the visitors out of their misery. In doing so, he also sounded out the selectors.

! 👏
A superb performance from the @ajinkyarahane88-led side as they beat Tamil Nadu 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
As much as a meeting of domestic cricket’s two heavyweights, the semifinal was also where India discards and hopefuls crossed roads. Prithvi Shaw and Musheer Khan, Shreyas Iyer and Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharshan and N Jagadeesan.
Thakur was in the proverbial no-man’s-land. Not in the scheme of things now but not told explicitly that he isn’t needed anymore. His performance, a century with two wickets in each innings, is a reminder but will the powers-that-be remember this performance when India next play a Test series in the second half of the year? Thakur wasn’t too optimic about that.
Maybe, there was a realisation that he was aided some baffling Tamil Nadu decisions. It started with the toss. Kulkarni hinted that the decision, made against the team’s gameplan as captain Sai Kishore chose to go with his ‘instincts’, threw the batsmen off guard a bit.
It provoked a shuffling of the batting order. In the first chapter, Washington Sundar came at Number 7 and Pradosh Paul at one-down while Sai Kishore promoted himself to four. In the second innings, the batting order was shuffled with Sundar walking in at three, Paul dropped to number 5 and Sai Kishore bringing himself on at 7. The tinkering also affected how they played, with Kulkarni pointing out that in the first innings, when the pitch got easier to bat in the afternoon and evening sessions, Tamil Nadu batsmen embarked on a blockathon that yielded no result.
Increasingly through the match, Tamil Nadu have an impression of being a one-man army, with Sai Kishore as the front and centre of everything, especially with the ball.
This was in stark contrast to Mumbai, where in different times of adversity a new player put his hand up and delivered. Thakur’s innings is an example of it but so was the support he got from Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande, the best No.9 and 10 with the bat in the country at the moment.
The same grittiness could be seen with the ball. Thakur provided the breakthrough dismissing openers Sudarshan and Jagadeesan. When Pradosh Paul and Baba Indrajith offered resance, Kotian stepped in to break the partnership. What followed was a procession with Shams Mulani scalping four. When Iyer caught the last man, Sandeep Warrier, to round off Mumbai’s fine team show, there was still an hour and a half left to play on the third day.
It didn’t matter, for in Kulkarni’s words, Tamil Nadu had lost the match on the first morning itself.