Image Credit- PTI
On a red-soil,
grassy field at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Tamil Nadu chose to bat first and
lost to Mumbai for 146 in the semi-final. Following tea, spinners Tanush Kotian
and Musheer Khan wrapped up the tail of the TN line-up, with fast bowler Tushar
Deshpande chopping up the top half with seam movement and additional bounce.
Mumbai responded by losing both Bhupen Lalwani (15) and Prithvi Shaw (5), but
Musheer and nightwatcher Mohit Avasthi saw their team through to stumps without
any more mishaps.
Mumbai had dominated
the first day of play because to the combination of Avasthi and Shardul Thakur.
Avasthi went wide of the crease, beat the inner edge of N Jagadeesan, then hit
the inside edge, causing the first batter to pop a catch to short leg for four.
With an inswinger for a duck, Thakur nailed B Sai Sudharsan leg before wicket
in the opening over. In the process, Sudharsan, who was making a comeback to
action following a back niggle, also burned through a review.
In an attempt to
defend the middle order, Captain Sai Kishore had moved up to No. 4 as a
pinch-blocker. However, this time, the strategy backfired as Deshpande broke
past his defences and knocked him for 1. Sai Kishore moved up to No. 3 in their
home quarterfinal matchup with Saurashtra and struck a vital half-century to
put TN ahead.
After being cut from India’s Test team, Washington Sundar and Vijay Shankar put
up a 48-run sixth-wicket combination off 191 balls to momentarily fend off
Mumbai’s blistering assault. But after lunch, Thakur halted him on 44. He
skillfully directed a ball in from above the wicket, causing it to seam away
slightly and kiss the outside edge.
Washington increased
its risks in addition to the lower order after the wetness dried up, but they
were unable to bring TN to 150. M In the first round, Mohammed smashed a
career-high 85 off 99 balls. In the 51st over, he hit four consecutive fours
against Thakur. But in the following over, his first of the innings, Mohammed
was caught nicking behind to slip by Musheer, ending his cameo. In order to
finish with 2 for 18, Musheer also trapped Sandeep Warrier with his left-arm
fingerspin.
After missing the
previous three games due to injury, Kuldeep Sen, TN’s guest bowler, made a
splash when he dismissed Shaw in his opening over. Lalwani, Mumbai’s top run
scorer for the season, was leg before wicket thanks to a blow from Sai Kishore,
but the home team closed the gap to 101 at stumps. With skipper Ajinkya Rahane
and Iyer out of the game on Sunday, Mumbai will try to bat TN out of the
semi-final.