Tushar Deshpande continued his rich vein of form with a four-wicket haul as Mumbai bowled Himachal Pradesh out for 140 before reaching 107 for two on the opening day of its Ranji Trophy Group D fixture at the Luhnu Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Coming off a thumping, bonus-point win against Chandigarh, Mumbai picked up from where it had left off. After captain Siddhesh Lad elected to bowl, Deshpande struck with the first ball of the match, trapping Shubham Arora in front of the wicket, before removing the experienced Nehal Wadhera in similar fashion. Having claimed seven wickets, including a hat-trick, in the opener, the pacer showed little sign of slowing down.
Mohit Avasthi and Sylvester D’Souza kept the pressure on as Innesh Mahajan also departed cheaply. Captain Pukhraj Mann and Vaibhav Kalta added 66 for the fourth wicket before Tanush Kotian broke the partnership.
D’Souza struck twice off successive deliveries. Substitute wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore took two excellent catches after Akash Anand reported discomfort in his finger.
The surface offered good bounce, which Mumbai’s pacers exploited so well that Shams Mulani did not need to bowl an over. Akash Vasisht provided late resistance with a 39 off 59 balls (3x4, 3x6) but could not repeat the century he scored against Haryana last week. Deshpande eventually removed him as Himachal failed to make its home advantage count.
Mumbai, however, lost Divyaansh Saxena early in its reply while Angkrish Raghuvanshi, back after a lengthy injury lay-off, started briskly but fell to Abhishek Kumar, caught by Aryaman Dhaliwal.
Lad (32 batting, 72b, 6x4) and Musheer Khan (34 batting, 93b, 6x4) then batted patiently, playing each ball on merit to stitch together an unbroken 75-run stand for the third wicket, leaving Mumbai trailing by just 33.
Outside the ground, meanwhile, it was almost a fair, with large crowds braving the blazing sun to cheer the teams on.
The scores: Himachal Pradesh — 1st innings: Shubham Arora lbw b Deshpande 0, Innesh Mahajan lbw b Avasthi 11, Nehal Wadhera lbw b Deshpande 8, Pukhraj Mann c sub (Tamore) b D’Souza 35, Vaibhav Kalta c sub (Tamore) b Kotian 33, Akash Vasisht c Mulani b Deshpande 39, Nitin Sharma c Raghuvanshi b D’Souza 0, Aryaman Singh Dhaliwal c (sub) Tamore b Deshpande 0, Arpit Guleria run out 7, Abhishek Kumar run out 2, Jitender Rana (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1, b-2, nb-1, wd-1): 5; Total (in 39.5 overs): 140.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-10, 3-22, 4-88, 5-88, 6-88, 7-89, 8-104, 9-122.
Mumbai bowling: Deshpande 13.5-1-46-4, Avasthi 7-0-37-1, D’Souza 11-3-43-2, Kotian 8-2-11-1.
Mumbai — 1st innings: Divyaansh Saxena c Mahajan b Rana 9, Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Dhaliwal b Abhishek 20, Musheer Khan (batting) 34,Siddhesh Lad (batting) 32; Extras: (b-10, lb-1, nb-1): 12; Total (for two wkts. in 36 overs): 107.
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-32.
Himachal bowling: Abhishek 10-5-19-1, Nitin 4-0-15-0, Guleria 7-2-14-0, Rana 7-1-25-1, Dhaliwal 7-1-15-0, Mann 1-0-8-0.
Toss: Mumbai.