On Day 3 of the tight Ranji Trophy semifinal between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, the latter city displayed its grit, determination, and willingness to fight. Shardul Thakur, the all-rounder for Mumbai and an unorthodox player who comfortably got a half-century by his counterattack had saved his team from going on its back foot by giving a sizeable first-innings lead afterward.
Batting at No. 8, Thakur is an important player in the Mumbai team who, with his 67 runs, hingle-handedly saves the team from collapsing at 207/7 to a respectable 312 all out. Moreover, the attitude of the upper-order batters was also deeply affected by his all-encompassing attacking style. Because the rearguard picked up a significant number of wickets, the lead was now about 49 runs from the initial 162 runs.
In 2nd innings, Mumbai bowlers got 3 back-to-back wickets before the end of the day on Day 3. The score was 57/3 for the Tamil Nadu side at the close of the day, trailing the Mumbai team by 106 runs in total with two days of play remaining.
The wondrous twist brings the match to the edge of the cliff. Thus, Mumbai would like to limit Tamil Nadu’s second innings as quickly as possible and chase down the target. However, the key Tamil Nadu batting show-starters still could take the game away. Things look like they might get intense in the Semifinals at Bengaluru.
