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Mumbai pace duo of Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur ran riots and forced Tamil Nadu to fold on a score of 146 on Day 1 of the semi-final of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.
On a green, red-soil pitch, Tamil Nadu skipper Sai Kishore opted to bat after winning the toss. Riding on sheer pace, movement and bounce from the surface, Deshpande opened up Tamil Nadu's batting order. Shardul and Mohit Avasthi set the tone of the game on the opening day. The experienced Indian all-rounder struck in the first over trapping Sai Sudharsan in front of the stumps with a delightful inswinging delivery. The promising young batter walked back to the pavilion with a four-ball duck to his name. Four overs later, Avasthi forced out an inside edge from N Jagadeesan to end his stay on the crease for 4 reducing Tamil Nadu to 13/2 within the first six overs. Deshpande entered the fray and tore apart Tamil Nadu's middle order to further inflict woes on the tottering team. He removed Pradosh Ranjan Paul (8), R Sai Kishore (1) and B Indrajith (11) to reduce Tamil Nadu to 42/5. Skipper Sai promoted himself to the number four spot to protect the middle order from Mumbai's fiery pacers. However, Deshpande burst through his defence to send him back with a score of 1. Experienced all-rounders Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar stitched up a 48-run stand to momentarily bring Tamil Nadu back into the game. Sundar, who was released from India's Test squad for the England series, showcased his class with some well-timed shots. Both players managed to fend off Mumbai's tempting pace attack till lunch. In the second session, Shankar's (44) concentration lapsed after he got beaten by Thakur's inward angling delivery which went past the right-handed batter's defence and kissed the outside edge on its way to Shams Mulani's hands. Sundar (43) held on to the one end as wickets kept falling on the other. The left-handed batter eventually lost his wicket to Tanush Kotian after he got trapped for lbw. In reply, MI lost two wickets with Prithvi Shaw (5) and Bhupel Lalwani (15) losing their wickets to Kuldeep Sen and Sai Kishore respectively. Musheer Khan (24*) and Avasthi (1*) ensured that Mumbai didn't lose any further wickets before the stumps were called. Brief Score: Tamil Nadu 146 (Vijay Shankar 44, Washington Sundar 43; Tushar Deshpande 3-24, Shardul Thakur 2-48) vs Mumbai 45/2 (Musheer Khan 24*, Sai Kishore 1-3). (ANI)
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