With Team India's Test series against England over on Saturday, where the hosts won by an innings and 64 runs in Dharamsala to clinch the five-match contest 4-1, former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar shifted his focus on the Ranji Trophy final, which is underway at the Wankhede Stadium between Mumbai and Vidarbha. And the batting legend was left disappointed at Mumbai's batting performance in the match as the home team suffered a middle-order collapse, which included another flop show from captain Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer.
Put to bat first, openers Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani got Mumbai off to a promising start with an 81-run stand before Yash Thakur broke the stand by dismissing the latter while Harsh Dubey got rid of the former a few overs later, leaving the hosts at 89 for two in 22.2 overs. Mumbai then slipped to four down for 99 runs before lunch, with Umesh Yadav sending Iyer packing in another dismal show by the India batter while Rahane's poor run of form continued with a dismissal for just 7 off 35 in the second session of of Day 1.
Mumbai's middle-order, hence, collapsed from 89 for two to 111 for six in a space of 97 balls as Vidarbha crawled back into the match to emerge on top.
While Sachin was all praise for the fightback from the visiting bowlers, he criticised the "ordinary batting" performance from Mumbai in his social media post. He wrote: “After a good start, the @MumbaiCricAssoc batters played some ordinary cricket. On the other hand, Vidarbha have kept things simple and put Mumbai under pressure. I am sure there will be many exciting sessions in this game as the match unfolds. The wicket has grass cover, but the ball will turn and assist spinners as the game progresses. Vidarbha will be happy with the way they got back in the game after a solid partnership by the Mumbai openers. The first session belonged to Vidarbha.”
{{/usCountry}}While Sachin was all praise for the fightback from the visiting bowlers, he criticised the "ordinary batting" performance from Mumbai in his social media post. He wrote: “After a good start, the @MumbaiCricAssoc batters played some ordinary cricket. On the other hand, Vidarbha have kept things simple and put Mumbai under pressure. I am sure there will be many exciting sessions in this game as the match unfolds. The wicket has grass cover, but the ball will turn and assist spinners as the game progresses. Vidarbha will be happy with the way they got back in the game after a solid partnership by the Mumbai openers. The first session belonged to Vidarbha.”
{{/usCountry}}Despite the collapse, Shardul Thakur waged a lone battle against Vidarbha with his unbeaten knock of 58 that left Mumbai at 202 for eight at Tea.
This was the second time Thakur looked to resuce Mumbai after his stunning knock of a century in the semifinal match against Tamil Nadu last week.