Ranji Trophy, semi-final: Centurion Rathod put Vidarbha in driver's seat
What's the story
Vidarbha are all over Mumbai in the ongoing second semi-final of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
Chasing a challenging target of 406 runs, Mumbai ended Day 4 at 83/3.
This comes after an impressive performance by Yash Rathod, who scored 151 runs in the third innings.
His efforts meant Vidarbha finished at 292/10 in their second outing. Shams Mulani claimed six wickets.
Day's highlights
Rathod's century and Wadkar's contribution bolster Vidarbha
Rathod was Vidarbha's savior in the third innings. The middle-order batter scored an impressive 151 runs off 252 balls.
Notably, Vidarbha were reeling at 56/4 when he arrived to bat. Captain and wicket-keeper Akshay Wadkar also played a crucial role with a solid half-century of 52 runs.
The duo added 158 runs for the fifth wicket. The team eventually finished at 292/10.
Notably, Vidarbha scored a mammoth 383/10 in their first innings. Mumbai could only score 270/10 in reply.
Game progression
Mumbai lose three early wickets
Mumbai are off to a terrible in the run chase. Harsh Dubey, the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing season, dismissed Ayush Mhatre and Siddhesh Lad early on.
Parth Rekhade then scalped the key wicket of Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
The team hence finished the day at 83/3. Opener Akash Anand (27*) and Shivam Dube (12*) returned unbeaten.
Rathod
900-plus runs in the season for Rathod
Rathod scripted twin 50-plus scores in the semi-final as he backed his 113-ball 54 from the first innings with a 252-ball 151.
With this, he became, the first batter to accomplish five tons in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 (50s: 3).
He has, overall, raced to 933 runs across at 58.31 in the season. Overall, this was Rathod's sixth First-Class ton.
He has raced to 1,478 runs across 16 games at a brilliant average of 47-plus.
Mulani
16th five-wicket haul in his 50th FC match
Shams Mulani picked six wickets for 85 runs in the 3rd innings.
With eight wickets in this match, Mulani has raced to 234 scalps from 50 First-Class matches.
This was his 16th five-wicket haul in FC cricket. He also owns 12 four-fers.
In the Ranji 2024/25 campaign, Mulani has bagged 44 scalps from 9 matches at 23.52, as per ESPNcricinfo (5W: 3).