Vidarbha eye first-innings lead after Mumbai's middle-order collapse

A full-blown middle order collapse - four wickets in 11 deliveries - has left Mumbai with an uphill battle in their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Vidarbha in Nagpur.

Parth Rekhade, the left-arm spin allrounder playing in only his second first-class match, dismissed Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube in a single over, the 41st of the innings, as Mumbai went from a comfortable 113 for 2 to 113 for 5.

Rahane was the first to go in the triple-wicket over for 18 when the ball rolled back onto the stumps off a defensive push. Suryakumar Yadav was next, out for a two-ball duck when he jabbed at an in-drifter with hard hands. Danish Malewar at silly point held it on the second attampts as it came off the pad after taking the inside edge. Dube then played back to one that skidded across from around the stumps as the thick edge was superbly taken at slip by Atharva Taide.

There was more drama in store when Shams Mulani, who orchestrated a stunning turnaround in the quarter-final courtesy a century stand with Tanush Kotian, was trapped lbw by Harsh Dubey, the left-arm spinner. Originally given not out as he played around a sharp-turning delivery, Akshay Wadkar opted to review the decision and replays confirmed the ball would've crashed into the stumps. Mulani had to walk back for 4 as Dubey picked up his 60th wicket - it made him the sixth bowler in Ranji history and the first since Jaydev Unadkat in 2019-20 to pick up 60 or more in a season.

As he has often done, Shardul Thakur led a fierce Mumbai fightback as he put on a half-century stand with wicketkeeper Akash Anand, who battled his way to make a half-century from the top of the order. Shardul played his strokes and attacked the bowlers to pick up runs at every available opportunity. Their partnership was worth 60 when Shardul holed out to deep square for a 41-ball 37 while attempting to pull Yash Thakur, which was one of the last acts in an action-packed session.

Yash Thakur bounded in full intensity on a hot afternoon, his figures of 2 for 56 in 11 overs doing no justice to his efforts. This included the big wicket of Siddhesh Lad to break a half-century stand when he got one to angle in and hold its line to burst past Lad's outside edge. He should've also had Rahane lbw on 11, but for a no-ball he delivered in trying to hit the deck hard.

In the morning session, Vidarbha managed to add just 75 to their overnight 308 for 5 with Yash Rathod, their top run-getter this season, bringing up his half-century before falling to trigger a slide. Dube, who had dismissed Rekhade and Karun Nair on the opening day, picked up three wickets in three overs to finish with figures of 11.5-1-49-5, his third five-for in first-class cricket.