IT WILL go down as one of the dream overs for a young bowler in the history of Ranji Trophy. Vidarbha’s left-arm spinner Parth Rekhade, playing just his second First-Class game, broke backbone of Mumbai with a three-wicket burst in an over. Not for the number of wickets in an over but for the sheer value of those batsmen — a former India captain, a current India skipper (Twenty20 format) and a talented India all-rounder, and considering enormity of the game, that 41st over of the Mumbai innings will be remembered for a long, long time. Modern day top batters Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube being consumed on alternate deliveries of the Rekhade over has given the former two-time champions a decisive edge in their semi-final at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Tuesday. In reply to Vidarbha’s 383, Mumbai, who defeated the hosts in last year’s final, were tottering at 188-7 and still trail by 195 runs. Mumbai opener-stumper Akash Anand (67*; 171b, 6x4) and Tanush Kotian (5*; 9b, 1x4), were at the crease when the play was called off, nine overs short for the day.

 

 

Rekhade (16-6-16-3) had Rahane out played on. The batter played a defensive shot on backfoot but the ball bounced back off turf and disturbed the bails while going down. In came Surya. He played a dot and on the next ball the bat-pad offer was accepted by Danish Malewar at silly point on second attempt. Left-handed bat Dube arrived. Another dot ball was followed by the one that took edge to Atharva Taide at lone slip who made no mistake. The famed trio was back in the hut as Vidarbha players jumped in joy. Harsh Dubey of the same tribe struck in the next over trapping Shams Mulani. Umpire did not give him out but Vidarbha went for DRS and their appeal was withheld. In a matter of 11 balls and five runs, the visitors lost four important wickets. It would have been one more had Karun Nair held on to sharp chance offered by Shardul Thakur off Dubey. Anand and Thakur (37; 41b, 4x4, 1x6), added 60 important runs for 7th wicket taking the team to 178 from 118. When it looked that the duo would see off the day, Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur forced Shardul Thakur to go for a pull shot for a man stationed exactly for the same at deep square leg.

 

This season, Mumbai were bailed out by trio of Shardul, Mulani and Kotian on many occasions and Vidarbha were happy to see the back of Shardul. Before that Rekhade burst, Darshan Nalkande accounted for young opener Ayush Mhatre (9; 16b, 1x4) while Thakur cleaned up experienced Siddhesh Lad (35; 92b, 4x4). Earlier in the day, overnight not out batter Yash Rathod completed his fifty but did not last long. On a short ball from Shardul, Rathod tried to turn it on the on-side but found a leading edge and the bowler completed an easy catch. In the next over, Thakur produced a fine yorker that thudded into skipper Akshay Wadkar’s (34; 62b, 4x4) pads and the umpire raised his finger. Wadkar went for DRS that showed the ball missing leg stump. Unfazed, on the next ball, Wadkar cut the bowler for a four. A ball later, a deliberate push through slips went for a boundary. On the next ball, Wadkar scored a pulled four.

 

Dubey scored his first boundary with an edged four off left-arm seamer Royston Dias. Wadkar left what looked like a harmless outgoing Dias delivery but the ball rose and caressed the batter’s gloves on way to the big gloves of Anand. In the first hour, Vidarbha lost both the overnight batters with the addition of 46 runs. Dias came round the wicket to Dubey and a fierce square cut that raced to the boundary brought Vidarbha’s 350. After drinks break, Shivam Dube was handed the ball and he removed Nachiket Bhute on very first ball. Soon a short ball consumed another batter. Dubey could not control his hook against a well directed ball of Dube. Yash Thakur also got out to a short ball. Dube’s figure for the day read 3-5-0-14-3. It was second five-wicket haul for him at the venue. The tall right-arm seamer took 5-98 against Karnataka in 2017-19 on his debut Ranji game.