Young Musheer Khan continued his rapid ascent with a superlative 136 to put Mumbai in an impregnable position on Day III of the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha, with Shreyas Iyer (95) and Ajinkya Rahane (73) also making significant contributions on Tuesday.
At stumps, Mumbai had one hand on their 42nd title after setting a 538-run target against a battered Vidarbha, who remained without their most successful bowler Aditya Sarwate on the third day.
The 19-year-old Musheer is the younger brother of Sarfaraz Khan, who impressed all on Test debut in the just-concluded series against England.
If the second day was all about Mumbai adopting a cautious approach to build their lead, the third day witnessed their batters ramming home the advantage with a definite plan and execution as they put on 418 in their second innings.
Vidarbha were 10 for no loss in their second innings with openers Dhruv Shorey (7) and Atharva Taide (3) unscathed, needing another 528 runs to win with two days left.
Resuming at 58 on Tuesday, Rahane began positively with a four but became a victim of left-arm Vidarbha spinner Harsh Dubey (5/144) for the second time in the contest.
Rahane was caught behind for 73 off 143 balls with five fours and a six after Dubey found an outside edge off the Mumbai skipper’s bat.
Iyer joined his captain Rahane in making the most of the opportunity. A lofted hit for a six over Vidarbha pacer Aditya Thakare’s head was the shot that Iyer began with, and his 95 off 111 balls featured 10 fours and three sixes.
Iyer’s innings was laced with strokes in all parts of the ground, though his half-century came up with an outside edge which flew between the two slip fielders. Iyer’s outing was about two halves — one had Iyer stroking his way to get into the 80s but in the other, the right-handed batter slowed down to such an extent that he ran out of patience and threw away his wicket.
Musheer and Iyer effectively took the match awayfrom Vidarbha with their dominant batting.
Brief scores: Mumbai 224 & 418 (Musheer Khan 136, Ajinkya Rahane 73, Shreyas Iyer 95, Shams Mulani 50 n.o.; Yash Thakur 3/79, Harsh Dubey 5/144). Vidarbha 105 & 10/0. At stumps, Day III
