Ranji Trophy: Mumbai clinch outright win

BHUBANESWAR: Chasing a daunting total of 413 in four sessions is virtually impossible for any team.In Odisha's case, things were further complicated when they lost four wickets for 93 runs by the end of Day Three. So, when the hosts returned on the final day of their Group `C' Ranji Trophy encounter against Mumbai at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Mumbai were expected to pick the remaining six wickets in no time.
Contrary to that, Odisha made the Mumbai bowlers work a little harder and eventually fell short by 120 runs. With 320 needed at the start of play , skipper Govinda Poddar dug himself in and took the proceedings close to tea break. When the last wicket fell, Odisha had scored 292 runs in 85.1 overs.
Poddar and debutante Shantanu Mishra played freely after settling down. Both batsmen didn't appear to be in any sort of pressure and handled the speedsters Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur, well.
Poddar, in fact, played with an aggressive intent and Mishra found the occasional boundary . The duo added 90 runs for the fifth wicket, before Poddar dragged an Abhishek Nayar delivery onto his stumps.Poddar had by then made 87 of 113 balls and Odisha's score read 176-5.
Biplab Samantaray then joined Mishra at the crease and added 20 runs on the board before Mishra was caught by Surya Kumar Yadav off Akash Parkar for one short of a well-deserved half century . Samantaray (31) wicketkeeper Saurabh Rawat (29) fell soon after. Medium pacer Suryakant Pradhan later entertained the small crowd with a 21-ball 32. Pradhan took on Mumbai's left arm spinner Vijay Gohil and launched him for three sixes, winning the cheers of the crowd and his teammates. Basant Mohanty was the last man out for 10. Opener Prithvi Shaw was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant 105 in Mumbai's first innings.
Mumbai, who had only four points from two matches were delighted by the outright win and skipper Aditya Tare praised his bowlers for getting 20 wickets and contributing to the win. “We were a bit behind on the points table but we have gone up a place now so that feels good. It always feels good after an outright win because it is difficult to take 20 wickets. Our bowlers did that so I am very happy ,“ the skipper said.
“We played two good teams (Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) initially and now we have played one away game where we got a tough fight. We were at almost full strength with Dhawal and Shardul back. Now we know how strong we are at picking 20 wickets. The bowling unit has stuck together and they have delivered in this game which was very important for us, otherwise it would have been a tough next three games, Tare added.
Shardul fined for dissent
Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur was fined 40 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire's decision, using a derogatory gesture, and bringing the game into disrepute. The incident happened during Mumbai's Group C Ranji Trophy game against Odisha. An appeal for lbw against Odisha's Saurabh Rawat was turned down by umpire K Srinivasan off Thakur. Thakur did not take the decision sportingly and snatched his cap from the umpire after the end of the over. India test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare tried to talk to the umpire but he refused to take Thakur's cap before the start of his next over. Mumbai vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav then took Thakur's cap.