Shardul Thakur's century against Tamil Nadu led Mumbai's late rescue in the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai. After being in a spot of bother, Indian International Thakur paved the way for a spirited batting performance by the Mumbai side to end the second day on 353/9 and 207 ahead of TN. Meanwhile, Himanshu Mantri also struck a century in Madhya Pradesh's clash against Vidarbha.
The 41-time champions Mumbai were in trouble in reply to TN's 146. They were reeling at 106/7 when Shardul walked out to bat. TN skipper Sai Kishore had already picked a fifer and the bowlers were looking to close things quickly to take a lead despite making just 146. But Shardul stood tall.
In his stroke-filled knock, he made 109 off 105 balls before falling to Kuldeep Sen on an outswinger. But in the meantime, he helped Mumbai's late rescue. He smashed a fifty with a six off S Ajith Ram and then got to his maiden first-class ton with another six off the same bowler. The bowling all-rounder was pumped after reaching the milestone and celebrated with a punch in the air, a roar and a jump with his gloves and helmet out from his body.
Mumbai ended the day at 353/9 with a lead of 207 and have the last match's centurions Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande in the middle. Tanush is eyeing another century now as he is unbeaten on 74.
Meanwhile, in the Madhya Pradesh vs Vidarbha semifinal, the MP side led by a century from Himanshu stayed on top of Vidarbha. MP started the day on 47/1 in reply to Vidarbha's 170. They lost wickets in bunches with Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma and Venkatesh Iyer departing with the team on 93. Himanshu found Sagar Solanki to partner but after a 52-run stand, Sagar was run out. He found Saransh Jain then with the two notched a 73-run stand before Akshay Wakhare removed Jain and then Aditya Sarwate got Anuhav Agarwal. Himanshu walked back next but not before scoring 126, half of MP's score of 252.
Vidarbha came out to bat and was 13/1 before stumps were called. Avesh Khan got the wicket of Atharva Taide to send Vidarbha still 69 behind.
