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Mumbai pace bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has said that as a batter he not only thinks about taking his team out of trouble in challenging situations but also to help pile up a good score to put the opponents under pressure.
Mumbai clinched their 42nd Ranji Trophy title following their 169-run victory over Vidarbha at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday. Shardul was a key performer for Mumbai in the final, scoring an explosive 75 in 69 balls in the first innings and taking a wicket. In five Ranji matches this season, he scored 255 runs in eight innings at an average of 31.87, with a century and a fifty and a best score of 109. He also took 16 wickets in the tournament. He scored a century against Tamil Nadu in the semifinal, continuing his series of fine performances in big matches, something he has also done for the Indian team in Test cricket. Speaking in the post-match presentation, Thakur said that the feeling of winning the tournament is very special since everyone had been working hard. He also reminisced about winning the title in his debut season in 2016. "It is very special. We had won in my debut season, but then a couple of years went by just like that. When we won in 2015-16, we did not have any Test player in our side. That was an achievement in itself. The Ranji Trophy is a very long season. I joined the team from the last league match. But all the boys in the team, including the support staff, everyone has been working very hard since June. As we are winning the trophy in March, this feeling is very special," Thakur said, according to ESPNCricinfo. "We play cricket for challenging situations. Everyone can perform in easy situations but what matters is who performs for the team in challenging situations. So I always think like that - not to just pull the team out of the tough situation but also put a good total on the board, so that there is a psychological effect as well on the opponents. The same happened in the semi-final and final. We were seven down for 110 [106], I scored a big hundred. Here, too, we were in a similar situation in the first innings. I could score 75 from there and increase the team's total. I feel the 200-plus total helped us win today," he added. Coming to the match, Vidarbha opted to bowl first and bundled out Mumbai for 224 in their first innings, with Shardul Thakur (75) and Prithvi Shaw (46) doing the bulk of the scoring. Yash Thakur (3/54) and Harsh Dubey (3/62) were the top bowlers. Mumbai got a 119-run first-innings lead as Shams Mulani (3/32), Tanush Kotian (3/7) and Dhawal Kulkarni (3/15) bundled out Vidarbha for 105 runs with Yash Rathod (27) and Atharva Taide (23). Mumbai's overall lead increased to 537 runs after a century from Musheer Khan (136), fifties from Shreyas Iyer (95), Ajinkya Rahane (73) and Mulani (50) took Mumbai to 418 runs in their second innings. Harsh Dubey (5/144) was the pick of the bowlers for Vidarbha. Chasing 538, Vidarbha was 223/5, but a 130-run partnership between skipper Akshay Wadkar (102) and Harsh Dubey (65) gave them a fighting chance. Tanush Kotian (4/95) was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers, Tushar Deshpande and Musheer got two wickets while Dhawal and Mulani got one as they all restricted Vidarbha to 368 runs. Musheer was the 'Player of the Match' with his century and two wickets in the second innings. (ANI)
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