Ranji Trophy: Spinner Parth Rekhade wrecks Mumbai who go from 113/2 to 113/5 in one lethal 41st over | Cricket News

IT seemed like everything was going as per the plan for Mumbai. The defending champions had managed to restrict Vidarbha for 383 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals, after the home side had resumed on 308 for 5. They were cruising slowly towards the total at Nagpur despite opener Ayush Mhatre getting out in the fifth over. They had lost Siddhesh Lad at the stroke of tea on the team score of 85, but Mumbai never imagined when going ahead that one over would change the course of the game.The dressing room felt the tremors in the 41st over through left-arm spinner Parth Rekhade, who was playing his second first class game for Vidarbha.
Mumbai would be left stuttering at 188/7, a whole 195 runs adrift in Nagpur.
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On the score of 113/2, Ajinkya Rahane had survived a few chances off pacer Yash Thakur. He went for an expansive drive that took a thick edge but the ball passed between wicket-keeper and first slip. Few balls later he was given leg before but a television replay showed that the pacer had crossed his front-foot line.
The Mumbai captain was riding on a stroke of luck but it soon ended. Rahane went behind to defend Parth’s straight one, got his bat in but the ball tossed up and went on to hit the stumps. Suryakumar Yadav redirected one to short square leg, and one ball later went for defense, but found a thick edge which went on to hit his pads. The ball ballooned in the air towards silly point where Danish Malewar caught him on the second attempt. Shivam Dube went to defend the first ball but the next ball he too went back and found a sharp edge to see Karun Nair grabbing it in the slips.
Mumbai lost three big wickets in a span of five balls. From 113 for 2 at one stage they were 113 for 5. It was a collapse no one expected in the outing so far.
With Shams Mulani walking in, the situation wasn’t new for him. In this season, as in the past few games, Mumbai has witnessed its top batsmen marching away without much contribution. Mulani swept one to left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey for a boundary, and one ball later, the Mumbai batsman tried to defend. The ball hit his pad first, there was a loud scream from Vidarbha, but the umpire turned it down. They took help of DRS, it was a close call and the ball was hitting the pad first which resulted in Mumbai losing four wickets in a span of five runs. Story continues below this ad
After the game Parth, who bowled 16 overs with an economy of 1.0, recalled what happened in those two overs which brought them back in the game.
“They had a partnership and they were playing gritty cricket. My captain had clearly told me that I need to bowl a tight line from one end. Even when I got two wickets, I didn’t change my plan. If you see, Mumbai players are gritty and they will go for runs, so it was important to keep bowling tight,” he recalled, calling the third wicket of Dube, one of his very best.
Mumbai once again looked to their most experienced batsman, Shardul Thakur to rescue the side. He has been doing it for the past few seasons and it was evident all hopes were on him again. Mumbai’s lower order has been the most consent with the bat this season and they have delivered when it mattered the most.
Thakur meant business and he charged Vidarbha bowlers. He hammered two back to back fours to pacers Darshan Nalkande and while he batted, the Mumbai score kept ticking. With opener Akash Anand, holding fort at the other end, Mumbai looked for another big partnership. Story continues below this ad
Vidarbha bowled short to Thakur and invited him to pull keeping a fielder at deep square leg.
On 37 where he had managed to strike a six and four fours, Thakur went for the short ball from pacer Thakur but found a man straight in the deep, and the plan had worked. Thakur and Anand added 60 runs for the seventh wicket. At stumps, Mumbai are trailing 195 runs with Anand and Tanush Kotian batting on 67 and 5 respectively.
Meanwhile for Parth it would certainly be a day to remember. The team dropped veteran offie Akshay Wakhare and had picked the 25-year-old left-arm spinner Parth. He had moved to Services in 2022 as he had got a job of petty officer but a knee surgery ensured that cricket took a halt. Services don’t allow players to play for other states once they are in their service. He wanted to play for Vidarbha and later an issue in his ‘document’ resulted in him quitting his services job and trying for his state team where he has played all age group tournaments.
A mischievous boy at the age of nine, Parth’s mother, who is a teacher, had asked her husband Rajesh to enroll their son to a near sports camp so that he would get exhausted and sleep early. His father gave him a choice of badminton and cricket, Parth chose the 22-yards. When he claimed two Indian captains-Rahane and Surya followed another Indian all-rounder Dube, it would certainly have pleased him. However, with three days left in the game, Vidarbha and Parth know the game is not over yet.
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Brief Scores: Vidarbha 383 off 107.5 overs (Danish Malewar 79, Yash Rathod 54, Shivam Dube 5-49) lead Mumbai 188/7 off 59 overs (Akash Anand 67*, Shardul Thakur 37, Parth Rekhade 3-16) 195 runs