Mumbai stumble in tall chase as Vidarbha close in on Ranji final

Yash Rathod struck a superb 151, his fifth hundred this season, as Vidarbha set Mumbai 406 for a place in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy final. Mumbai will be chasing history - the highest successful chase in the tournament's history is 378 that Railways achieved against Tripura last season.

But that job got that much tougher as they ended the day in Nagpur on 73 for 3, with Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, being dismissed in the last half hour. Shivam Dube, and not Suryakumar Yadav, came out to bat at No. 5 to join first-innings centurion Akash Anand. It wasn't clear if Suryakumar was suffering from a niggle - he was off the field for the entire duration of Vidarbha's batting innings.

All three wickets fell to the left-arm spinners. Harsh Dubey, the season's highest wicket-taker who surpassed the 60-wicket mark in the first innings, accounted for Mhatre and Lad, while Parth Rekhade, who triggered a mammoth collapse in the first innings with the wickets of Rahane, Suryakumar and Dube in the space of two overs, dismissed Rahane with one that kept low.

But the story of Vidarbha's day lay in how Rathod ground Mumbai's bowling to construct his century, first with Akshay Wadkar and then with Rekhade. Rathod and Wadkar lifted a floundering innings from 56 for 4, adding 158 before Wadkar's dismissal prior to lunch opened up the game again.

Having dug in to make a half-century of 200 balls, Wadkar was out bowled off a beauty from Shams Mulani as he played down the wrong line to one that turned away sharply. Dubey and Darshan Nalkande soon fell to the spinners as it became clear the surface was now beginning to open up and aid spinners if they were prepared to bowl into the rough created at both ends.

Not until the No. 10 was dismissed that Rathod looked to play a shot in anger - this partly stemmed from the confidence of having someone as accomplished as Rekhade, who was the No. 3 in the first innings, come in at No. 9. Rathod brought up his 150 shortly before being the last man out, by which time their lead crossed 400. Mulani finished with figures of 6 for 85 across 44 overs.

Vidarbha quickly turned to their spinners with the new ball and Dubey got it to turn and kick off the rough, even as the odd ball kept low. This played a part in each of the three dismissals. All said, Anand, fresh off a century in the first innings, looked compact and showed a solid defence to finish unbeaten on 27, with Dube on 12 as Mumbai have to do something that has never been done before, on the final day, to try and gun for title No. 43.