Mumbai: Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani returned a five-wicket haul as a dominant Mumbai crushed Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 120 runs to notch up an outright win on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D contest, here Monday.
After putting on board 446 in the first innings, Mumbai ran through a frail Himachal Pradesh batting line-up twice in as many days on a dusty BKC Ground track to record a comprehensive victory, their second of the season.
Himachal, bundled out for 187 in a poor first-innings show on a placid wicket earlier on day three, showed no significant improvement in the second, making 139 in which only Pukhraj Mann (65 off 109 balls, 9x4s) provided some resistance.
Resuming at a precarious 94 for 7 in the first innings, a brisk half-century from number 10 Vaibhav Arora (51 off 61 balls, 7x4s, 4x6s) gave HP some much-needed impetus, even as Nikhil Gangta (64 not out, 134 balls, 8x4s) held the other end strongly.
Arora used the long handle to a good effect and hammered powerful sixes down the ground, putting on 77 runs for the ninth wicket with Gangta, but that could not delay the inevitable as HP were bundled out for 187, conceding a huge 259-run lead.
Asked to follow-on, Himachal were again off to a poor start with Tushar Deshpande getting skipper Ankush Bains (0) caught behind and Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur trapping Siddhant Purohit (2) leg-before.
Himachal were soon reduced to 68/4 when Mulani struck twice to get rid of Ankit Kalsi (19) and Ekant Sen (7). The visitors found a dependable pair of Mann and Gangta who steadied the ship with a 44-run stand on either side of tea break.
However, Mumbai brought on Ayush Mhatre to roll over his arm in search of the breakthrough, and he had Mann caught by Ajinkya Rahane at the first slip for his maiden wicket in the 36th over.
Mulani expedited the end of the contest with final three wickets to complete another five-for here.
Mumbai skipper Thakur hoped that Mulani, who hit 69 in the first innings and claimed his 19th five-for, will get his due in terms of a call-up at higher level.
“India has a lot of talent pool and it’s really up to the selectors what they are looking at. The kind of performances Shams is putting up, he will get his due one fine day,” Thakur said during a interaction after the match.
In New Delhi, visitors Jammu and Kashmir reached 55/2, chasing 179 against Delhi.
Delhi were bowled out for 277 in the second innings after a batting collapse saw them lose seven wickets for 33 runs, after being placed comfortably at 244/3 and having erased a first-innings deficit of 99 runs.
Skipper Ayush Badoni (72) and Ayush Doseja (62) hit fifties but their efforts were not enough as Delhi produced another sorry performance with the bat. Vanshaj Sharma took 6/68.
J&K opener Qamran Iqbal was batting on 32 with Vanshaj at the other end with the contest set for a tricky fourth day.
Elsewhere, hosts Hyderabad stuttered to reach 198/7 in the second innings but extended their overall lead to 293 runs against Rajasthan, who were bowled out for 269 in the first innings and conceded a lead of 95 runs.
Skipper Rahul Singh Gahlaut struck 59 for the only notable performance in second innings for Hyderabad.
At Raipur, hosts Chhattisgarh completed a 10-wicket hammering of Pondicherry to walk away with a bonus point win.
Having conceded a lead of 172 runs in the first innings, Pondicherry folded for a mere 175 to set a four-run target for the hosts, who completed the formalities on the first ball when Ayush Pandey hit a four.
Pondicherry had resumed their second innings at 108/2 but folded without much resistance on the third day as Aditya Sarwate took 4/27 and Ashish Chouhan and Mayank Yadav claimed two wickets apiece.
