BENGALURU: Yash Dubey, Shubham Sharma and Rajat Patidar led Madhya Pradesh’s batting dominance on the third day of the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai, reaching the distance to take the team’s first innings lead, ending the day with 368 in 125 overs. Done at /3. Just six runs were needed to overtake Mumbai’s 374 runs here on Friday.
Friday was a day that truly belonged to Madhya Pradesh. First, Dubey and Sharma, the overnight batsmen, made 133 and 116 runs respectively, putting on a massive 222-run stand for the second wicket. Once both fell, Patidar remained unbeaten on 67 with some catchy shots.
For Mumbai, it was a day of hard work, with little help from the pitch and leaving Sharma on 55 as well as Patidar’s dismissal for 52 on a no-ball added to their troubles.
Patidar, whose attacking intent attracted fans with chants of ‘RCB, RCB’ at the stadium, started the final session with a cover drive from off-spinner Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani punched beautifully between the two cover fielders. . His aggression continued as he made room to drive through long-off and then played a pleasant late cut to keep Madhya Pradesh running the juggernaut. Patidar completed his thrilling half-century in just 44 balls by catching Mohit Awasthi at mid-wicket.
It looked like Patidar had thrown his wicket while chasing a wide delivery from Mulani and was caught at backward point. But replays showed that the left-arm spinner had overstepped, leaving the right-handed batsman relieved at 52. Dubey hit two more boundaries and took his score to 133 before sending a lackluster lead to Tamor, giving Mulani the first wicket of the match. ,
After respite, Patidar slowed down and played 27 balls without scoring a single run. As Kotian arrived, he got back-to-back boundaries – a powerful drive through mid-off followed by a backfoot punch through cover. Patidar and captain Aditya Srivastava saw the remaining time in the day to seal Madhya Pradesh’s authority in the final.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 374 all out in 127.4 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 134; Gaurav Yadav 4/106) lead Madhya Pradesh 368/3 in 123 overs (Yash Dubey 133, Shubham Sharma 116; Mohit Awasthi 1/53, Tushar Deshpande 1/73) ) by six runs
Get all the latest updates cricket news, cricket pictures, cricket videos And cricket score Here