Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani starred with a five-wicket haul as Mumbai crushed Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 120 runs on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D encounter at the BKC Ground on Monday. After posting 446 in the first innings, Mumbai swiftly dismantled Himachal Pradesh twice in as many days on a dusty track to secure their second outright win of the season.
Himachal Pradesh managed just 187 in their first innings, with only lower-order contributions from Vaibhav Arora (51 off 61 balls) and Nikhil Gangta (64 not out) providing resistance. Resuming at 94/7, Arora and Gangta put together a 77-run partnership for the ninth wicket, but the deficit of 259 runs proved too large to overcome.
Himachal collapses inthe follow-on as Shams Mulani strikes again
Asked to follow on, Himachal’s top order crumbled once more, with early dismissals of skipper Ankush Bains and Siddhant Purohit. Mulani struck twice to remove Ankit Kalsi and Ekant Sen, but a steady partnership between Pukhraj Mann and Gangta briefly resisted Mumbai’s charge.
However, Mumbai introduced Ayush Mhatre, who claimed Mann’s wicket, and Mulani wrapped up the innings with three more scalps to complete his 19th five-wicket haul. Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur praised Mulani’s performance, noting that with India’s deep talent pool, consistent performances like his will eventually earn recognition at higher levels.
In other matches, Jammu & Kashmir reached 55/2 chasing 179 against Delhi, where Vanshaj Sharma had earlier claimed 6/68 to trigger a dramatic batting collapse. Meanwhile, Hyderabad reached 198/7 against Rajasthan, extending their lead to 293 runs, with skipper Rahul Singh Gahlaut (59) standing out.
At Raipur, Chhattisgarh completed a 10-wicket victory over Pondicherry, chasing a mere four-run target. Pondicherry, who had conceded a 172-run first-innings deficit, could not withstand the bowling of Aditya Sarwate (4/27), Ashish Chouhan, and Mayank Yadav, who each contributed to the collapse.
(By PTI Inputs)
